LG to make Windows Mobile Smartphones?

We've been awfully hard on Broadcom here at WMExperts, mainly because we (ok, me, for various reasons) have an inherent bias against patents getting in the way of companies releasing new shiny gadgets. It may be time to leaven that harshness, however, as it appears that Broadcom is going to be a new dealer provider of 3G chips for future Windows Mobile smartphones:

A recent sign of Broadcom's newfound footing in basebands came May 31, when Broadcom said it and Microsoft (MSFT), the world's largest software company, had jointly created a design center in Taiwan where the companies will develop basebands that run Microsoft's Windows Mobile software.

So instead of preventing Sprint and Verizon from getting 3G phones, Broadcom's patent will enable the CDMA-duo to get them - with Broadcom's chips. So the system is working. Now the interesting part, who exactly is interested in using these Broadcom chips to make Windows Mobile phones? Apparently it's LG(!):

"Several [manufacturers] have been pushing Broadcom and Microsoft to build this development center," says John Starkweather, general manager of mobile communications at Microsoft. He adds that, later this year, a major manufacturer will release a Windows Mobile device based on a Broadcom baseband chip. Neither company would identify the handset maker or say how much they're spending on the design center. But Starkweather says Korea's LG Electronics asked Broadcom and Microsoft to work together and that Microsoft is spending as much on the center with Broadcom as it has on comparable efforts with TI and Qualcomm.

Read: Broadcom Reaps Patent Suit Benefits

If LG can bring hotness like their Prada phone with Windows Mobile on board, I can break out my credit card -- despite my claims to be more practical about my smartphone purchasing.