Seoul – Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are collaborating for the first time to jointly develop a mobile TV technology aimed at becoming the industry standard in North America. The surprise and inaugural cooperation was jointly announced by Park Jong-woo, head of Samsung Electronics’ digital media division, and Paik Woo-hyun, LG’s chief technology officer. The companies are targeting to win the North American mobile TV device market which is expected to generate sales of up to 155million units by 2012. The companies’ collaborative effort is expected to combine LG’s mobile pedestrian handheld (MPH) technology and Samsung’s advanced-vestigial sideband (A-VSB), as well as incorporate capabilities to receive frequencies from digital terrestrial broadcasters. The collaboration is expected to provide an edge to Samsung and LG over major rivals Thomson and Micronas Multimedia in the race to have their respective technologies adopted as the standard within the North American market.