Since Apple App store was released, those who were jealous of Apple’s successes launched numerous of their own App stores in the past two years. Now, we have LG join the App store bandwagon. LG today officially announced that its own application store goes beta testing. The LG Application Store (http://www.lgapplication.com) will first be introduced in Asia with the service being expanded to 24 countries. LG expects to offer up to 2,000 applications on its site by the end of year with at least 100 programs available free of charge to LG handset users.

“As we’ve announced earlier, LG is planning to invest heavily in the smartphone market going forward, with ten smartphones being introduced this year alone” said Dr. Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “As the trend has shown, the appeal of smartphones is in the diversity and usefulness of the applications. Opening our own Application Store will allow us to offer the best content and applications for our devices so that LG phone owners will get the best possible ownership experience.”

It seems like want to assure the users that its App store won’t be something that rip them off.

“It’s important to understand that unlike other mobile phone manufacturers, LG’s Application Store is not intended to be a new or separate business model,” added Dr. Ahn. “It’s an added-value service that comes with LG’s high-end phone and smartphone ownership. And unlike other mobile phone online stores, LG’s intention is not to censor the type of applications that are available to our customers but only to ensure that they meet the high standards for quality and compatibility.”