Google is to pre-install its software in LG mobile phones as the internet search giant broadens its footprint in the market for handheld devices.

Handsets made by LG, of South Korea, will be shipped to Europe, the US and Asia with Google products and services, including Google Maps, Gmail and Blogger, the blogging platform, from next spring.

The two companies will market the handsets jointly.

Google, which already has a similar deal in place with Samsung, offered no further comment on whether it was working on a handset of its own, after recent remarks from executives from the company suggesting that a new product was in the pipeline.

With mobile advertising revenues forecast to grow eightfold in the next four years, to $11.5 billion (£6 billion), Google has repeatedly said that the sector is a key target as it seeks to diversify from its core PC-based advertising business.

With mobile users reluctant to download new software, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, the leading internet companies, have been racing to persuade mobile-phone manufacturers to pre-install their services on handsets.

In these terms, Microsoft could have an advantage, as it is the only internet player to have its own mobile operating system — the core software plank on which other applications run.

Last month Microsoft said that it had signed up LG Electronics, Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard to build handsets that would run on its Windows Mobile OS.

Yahoo! sought last week to gain an advantage by unveiling a new mobile search service that does not require software to be pre-installed or downloaded.

However, it already has deals with Nokia, Motorola, RIM, LG and Samsung, the handset manufacturers, to have its software shipped on certain handsets.

Yahoo! also has a deal in place with HTC, a Taiwan-based company that has been named as a possible partner to Google in its mobile plans.

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