LG is now expanding its expertise beyond TV manufacturing to encompass webOS TV software platform development and adoption by other TV brands. This has the potential to reshape the TV business for both technology and content providers while significantly growing LG’s presence and prominence in the global home entertainment market. LG already supplies the display panels to many other brands and it only makes sense that its continuously refined webOS operating system becomes available to more consumers.
webOS evolved from the Open webOS, HP webOS and Palm webOS and is a robust Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for smart devices. It was initially developed by Palm and acquired by Hewlett-Packard, which didn't know what to do with it, started to offer the code as open source, and lost one of the most valuable market opportunities in the company's history. HP sold Open webOS to LG Electronics, which wisely used it as a smart TV operating system. Unfortunately, HP also sold key webOS and Palm patents to Qualcomm, limiting the applications for the operating system. Since 2014, the operating system became an integral component of LG’s home entertainment ecosystem, and webOS has delivered exceptional ease of use for LG TV owners.
Now, licensees of webOS TV can benefit from the familiar and highly acclaimed user interface design along with a rich pool of features such as voice search and control, integrated AI algorithms and easy connectivity. With LG webOS TV, manufacturers also get a diversity of content options including access to global streaming service apps such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and sports streaming service DAZN as well as LG Channels, the company’s free premium content streaming service available in some regions. Compatible TV models also include the dedicated Magic Motion remote controller.
Over twenty TV manufacturers from around the world have already committed to the webOS partnership, including brands such as RCA, Ayonz and Konka with more partners expected to join in the future. LG recently introduced webOS 6.0 for its 2021 OLED, QNED Mini LED, NanoCell and UHD smart TVs. Paired with the new Magic Remote, the latest version of the company’s acclaimed smart TV platform offers viewers a more enjoyable and intuitive content discovery experience. The update introduces a redesigned home screen providing faster access to the most frequently used apps and streamlining content discovery with recommendations based on the user’s preferences and viewing history. All displayed full-screen to show preferred content and related information at one glance, the New Home acts as a central hub for settings and the greater webOS ecosystem.
Beyond the new premium design, Magic Remote offers simpler controls when using voice recognition with LG’s multi-AI offerings of LG ThinQ, Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. By simply touching an NFC-enabled smartphone to the remote, viewers can share content from their phones to the TV or vice versa. Users can also view content stored on their mobile phones on their LG TVs while continuing to use their favorite smartphone apps and features.
The webOS ecosystem is also supported by technology partners such as Realtek, Nuance, Gracenote, CEVA and Universal Electronics, among many others. CEVA already announced that it is expanding its long-standing partnership with LG for its Freespace MotionEngine Smart TV software technology to include 3rd party TV brands running LG's webOS smart TV platform.
"Expanding our webOS platform to other TV brands is an important milestone for LG as we evolve our TV business to deliver software and content services," says Lee Sang-woo, senior vice president of corporate business strategy at LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company. "The point-and-click motion control capabilities enabled by CEVA's MotionEngine Smart TV software play an integral role in the popularity of webOS and LG Magic Remote. Introducing this intuitive UI to more webOS users via third party TV brands is key to our vision for the TV industry."
LG has incorporated CEVA's Hillcrest Labs Freespace MotionEngine Smart TV software in more than 100 million TVs as part of webOS for more than a decade. Under the expanded agreement with CEVA, LG will license its acclaimed webOS smart TV platform, including the intuitive point-and-click cursor control functionality enabled by CEVA's MotionEngine Smart TV software, to third party TV brands adopting the webOS platform for their products. This marks the first time for a global TV manufacturer to develop and market both TV hardware and software and is expected to increase LG's presence in the home entertainment market worldwide.
As highlighted by Strategy Analytics, the announcement by LG that it is making its webOS TV platform available to other vendors is a clear sign that the consolidation phase in TV streaming platforms is well under way. 1.3 billion connected TV devices are currently in use worldwide, according to Strategy Analytics’ recent research, and the leading six platforms account for less than half. WebOS TV has a 7% share, behind Samsung’s Tizen, but ahead of Sony PlayStation, Amazon’s Fire TV OS, Roku TV OS and Google’s Android TV. The rest of the market is highly fragmented, and LG’s move is likely to soak up some of the smaller players rather than having an impact on its major rivals, in the view of Strategy Analytics’ experts.
"LG’s webOS TV platform is number two in the world but there was a fear that the company was not strong enough to compete against major rivals," says David Watkins, Director, TV Streaming Platforms. "This announcement reassures partners that support for webOS TV is likely to be sustained over the longer term and should encourage developers to add webOS to their connected TV roadmaps."
www.strategyanalytics.com
www.ceva-dsp.com/product/motionengine
www.lg.com
