LG-Nortel launches Android-based multimedia home phone

Stuart Corner
Friday, 24 July 2009 05:16

IT Industry - Strategy

LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel, has unveiled what it claims to be the world's first residential multimedia terminal based on the Android platform.

LG-Nortel says the device - which features a 3.5-inch TFT LCD screen - will provide easy access to games, personal productivity, education, cooking, multimedia, videoconferencing, and other applications delivered over a broadband service.

It adds that the device will benefit from support for Android across the software development community and "the innovation currently driving the smartphone market, such as new social-network and location-based services that enable a broad range of new capabilities that combine the best of the Web with personal user preferences."

JD An, vice president, LG-Nortel, said: "By building the world's first residential terminal based on the Android operating system, we can help customers tap into a new world of personalised, engaging and entertaining applications from their homes - while helping telecommunications carriers deliver a unified communications experience to subscribers across both the wireless and wired domains."

An claimed that "The LG-Nortel Multimedia Phone is nothing short of a revolution in home communications," but the company has provided almost no details of the product, no information on what markets it will be sold in, or when.

In February market research firm, In-Stat, produced a free research report, "The Media Phone Has Arrived!" available here . It predicted that "The media phone represents a new category of broadband multimedia device" and identified the primary market for these being in the home, where they "have the potential to become the fourth screen in the home, complementing the PC, TV, and mobile handset."

However, In-Stat also forecast that specialised media phones would emerge in the business market, replacing the current middle and high-end IP telephones and supporting multimedia applications that require the always-on, high-performance operation delivered by desktop telephones.  The recently launched Avaya 9670G is one such: blending touch screen customisable interfaces and support for downloadable applications with standard business phone features.