LG Acquires WebOS for Line of Smart TVs
LG recently acquired Hewlett-Packard's webOS software and will use it to power a new line of Smart TVs.
The company announced the news at this year's Mobile World Congress. The exact terms of this new partnership have not been revealed, however, and LG is believed to now have access to webOS patents, employees, and the operating system's original source code, according to CNET.
WebOS, created by ex-Apple exec John Rubenstein and originally owned by Palm, was purchased by HP in 2010. The company acquired the software and used it to power its TouchPad tablet line. The TouchPad ended up becoming a total failure for HP, who pulled it from shelves in the summer of 2011 and left the tablet market for an undisclosed period of time.
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LG hopes to create "a new path for LG to offer an intuitive user experience and internet services across a range of consumer electronics devices," according to the company's president and chief technology officer Skott Ahn. Smart TVs appear to be the main devices LG plans to have success with using webOS.
The company expanded its Google Smart TV lineup last month from two models to seven models to start out the year. Features on these new TVs include PrimeTime, Voice Search, and YouTube Send to TV capabilities. These TVs come in 42 inches, 47 inches, 50 inches, and 60 inches.
There is no word yet on what the new webOS-powered LG TVs will be like or what sizes they will come in, however, they should be somewhat similar to the Google-powered line.
HP on the other hand, will launch Android powered tablets to replace the fallen TouchPad sometime in the near future. These devices will also use Nvidia's Tegra 4 processor.
