LG Electronics will pre-install the J2ME mobile IM application eBuddy Mobile Messenger on at least 1.5 million handsets in the Asia Pacific region.

LG, a mobile communications technology company, has agreed to install eBuddy Mobile Messenger on handsets to be sold in India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia. Additional mobile instant messaging concept rollouts in other regions -- including the U.S. -- are under discussion.

"For us it's a big distribution deal to get eBuddy on a huge number of mobile phones, especially in the Asia Pacific region, and for LG, it's great to get more apps such as IM installed on their phones to get a leg up on the competition," said Jan-Joost "JJ" Rueb, cofounder/CEO of eBuddy, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

"LG makes 80 million handsets a year, so for us it's a great opportunity to get in there," he said.

With 2008 global sales of $44.7 billion, LG comprises of five business units -- Home Entertainment, Mobile Communications, Home Appliance, Air Conditioning and Business Solutions

eBuddy, a privately held company backed by Prime Technology Ventures and Lowland Capital Partners, is available in more than 30 languages.

The mobile site eBuddy Lite Messenger is at http://m.ebuddy.com.

The eBuddy Mobile Messenger application will be pre-installed on LG handsets marketed directly at young customers who are fans of instant messaging.

"Our target is to reach the 18-plus demographic," Mr. Rueb said. "We sell ad space based on age and gender, and we can also target based on device type and carrier"

eBuddy Mobile Messenger is designed to make it easy, fast and fun to chat with friends anywhere, anytime.

The partnership with LG will also enable eBuddy to display targeted mobile ads to consumers.

The LG handsets that will be pre-installed with eBuddy Mobile Messenger include the new LG Arena (LG-KM900), with full touch-screen functionality, 5 MP camera and a 3D, S-Class user interface.

The LG Renoir (LG-KC910i) has full touch-screen functionality and an 8 MP camera.

The LG-KS360 has a sliding QWERTY keyboard designed for fast messaging, a 2 MP camera and a variety of color options.

The LG Cookie (LG-KP500) is a lower-priced full-touch handset.

The demand for mobile messaging and social networking in Asia continues to increase, according to LG Electronics Asia Pacific.

eBuddy Mobile Messenger features an eBuddy ID that lets consumers create a single unique ID that can be used to login and access all major IM accounts including AIM, Facebook, Google Talk, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN Windows Live Messenger.

Additional features include the ability to take and set a mobile phone photo as a personal avatar, group chat, picture sending, the ability to send SMS notifications to offline buddies and offline messaging functionality.

"We agreed to a joint marketing effort with LG, who will promote the apps on their phones like eBuddy, and we'll have LG on our site as well," Mr. Rueb said. "They will promote us and we will promote them.

"We just started to implement some advertising, which is still in the testing phase, as we just started selling the first campaigns," he said. "The ads are usually local, bought on a per-country basis.

"ING http://home.ingdirect.com and other big banks are starting to come out and invest in mobile advertising."