Korean mobile phone company LG has announced its plans to build 50 handsets for Microsoft Windows Mobile over the next three years.

The deal will provide a massive boost to the somewhat struggling smartphone operating system, which is currently facing stiff competition from Android, Symbian and Apple's OS for the iPhone, and will result in Windows being the dominant LG platform.

The commitment follows last November's Memorandum of Understanding between the companies to work in tandem on a number of devices from conception to completion. However, these new devices are not expected to be on sale to the public until the next version of Windows Mobile has been delivered and deemed stable - predicted for 2011.

LG now promises to make Windows its primary operating system and agrees to bring at least 26 new Windows devices to the market by 2012. Resulting in a tenfold increase in the number of LG devices running Windows, the deal represents a large vote of confidence from the worlds' third largest mobile provider.

According to The Penninsula, Yong Nam, vice chairman and CEO of LG Electronics, said: "New LG phones running Windows will take advantage of the excitement in this dynamically growing market. "The Windows platform brings flexible and customer-friendly software that ties into the Web and the PC, giving our phones a wide range of new capabilities to address an increasing number of segments and markets."

Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft, also expressed his support for the deal - which aims to create phones whose high-tech features are supported by a collaborative symbiosis between hardware and software.

According to AME Info, he said: "Integrating Windows software with LG's design leadership will bring new experiences to help enrich people's lives."