Microsoft and LG Electronics have partnered to jointly subsidize a portfolio of free WP7 apps for consumers who purchase LG smart phones running the new Windows Phone 7 operating system. The two companies have agreed to offer 10 free apps (with a value, they say, of more than $30) every 60 days. These free apps, which will rotate, will include social networking, gaming and utilities. The move is clearly intended to level the playing field, to a small degree, with other operators whose app stores offer hundreds of thousands of apps, many of them free.
To entice application developers to build apps for the WP7 OS, Microsoft and LG will also offer app marketing opportunities and other resources to a selected number of developers. Other perks include LG’s promotion of these apps on its Mobile Global Facebook page and through in-store sales events. LG will also offer WP7 users free access to in-house software including Type n Walk and Voice SNS.
Microsoft, which premiered Windows Phone 7 in mid-October, has also arranged partnerships with Dell, HTC and Samsung.
