In a bid to embrace the ever growing popularity of the mobile application market and try and quell some of Apple’s dominance, LG Electronics has just announced the launch of its very own application store in Australia.

The LG Application Store is now up and running in beta format and LG is hoping the store will have up to 2,000 applications by the end of the year and at least 100 programs free of charge for LG handset users.

Dr, Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, commented on the launch of the new site.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Ahn also emphasised how applications in the store will undergo rigorous quality testing to ensure the applications are of the highest quality for LG consumers.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

According to LG, the Application Store will be compatible with its Microsoft smartphone GM730 when it launches on 28 July 2009 and is also compatible with the KS20 (windows device).

To access the store, users can visit www.lgapplication.com and download applications to a computer, but users who own the GM730 will be able to directly access the store via the handset.

It has not yet been confirmed when the store will leave the beta testing stage.