LG Electronics and Microsoft today announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner on mobile convergence. Specific details were not forthcoming, but a statement said “the agreement ensures continued strategic collaboration in R&D, marketing, applications, and services in the field of converged mobile devices.” The deal expands on a previous relationship between both companies and is likely to result in LG broadening its portfolio of devices that use Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. South Korea’s LG is the world’s fourth-largest handset vendor and said that as part of today’s MoU it has set itself “mid to long term goals” that will “reinforce LG’s global competitiveness in smartphone[s].”

Meanwhile Reuters notes that larger home rival Samsung Electronics – the world’s second-largest handset vendor – today announced the launch of the domestic version of the Omnia touchscreen handset model, available via SK Telecom and based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.1 operating platform. Microsoft is hoping its Windows Mobile operating system can continue to challenge Symbian – a platform backed by the world’s largest vendor, Nokia, and used in two-thirds of smartphones – as well as software from RIM, Apple and Google.