LG Electronics' first Android smart phone debuts in S Korea

SEOUL, March 10 (Xinhua) -- LG Electronics Inc., the world's third largest mobile phone manufacturer, released its first smart phone that runs on Google's Android operating system in South Korea, the company said Wednesday.

The Andro-1, featuring a QWERTY keypad, enables users to easily search the Web, email and other Google services, while giving access to its application store "Android Market", LG said in a press release.

The new model is the second smart phone in the South Korean market that operates on the Android system, LG said, following Motorola's release of Motoroi in February.

The competition in South Korea's smart phone market has been intensifying lately following the release of Apple's iPhone in December, which sold approximately 400,000 units in three months, and Samsung Electronics Co.'s Omnia series as well as Research in Motion's Blackberry phone last year.