YouTube, LG to develop mobile phone

South Korea's LG Electronics said it has signed an agreement with YouTube, the world's biggest video-sharing website, to develop a mobile phone which can operate the service.

LG Electronics said the proposed model will enable users to upload, view and share video clips or user-created content (UCC) online freely without using computers.

"LG Electronics will unveil the mobile handset that fully supports the YouTube service for the first time in Europe in the second half of this year,'' the South Korean firm said in a statement.

YouTube is the world's most popular online video-sharing website where computer users can upload, view and share video clips.

Industry data shows YouTube has some 70,000 UCCs posted and more than 100 million people logging on to its website every day.

LG Electronics, the world's fifth-largest mobile phone manufacturer, is also stepping up its partnership with Google, the world's largest internet search engine which owns YouTube.

It began selling third-generation (3G) handsets called "Google phones'' with software installed for directly using the Google service, in Europe last month.

The phone offers one-click access to Google's search engine as well as Google maps and Gmail.
Google acquired YouTube late last year for $US1.65 billion ($1.93 billion) to strengthen its video-linked online advertisement business.