LG Electronics shared its ambitions in the media and entertainment space, by delivering services and a unique collection of curated content in products based on its webOS operating systems, running on its leading LG OLED and LG QNED TVs. The first event of its kind, the webOS Partner Summit 2023 provided the perfect forum for LG to share its new vision – and the immense value of the ever-evolving and expanding webOS smart TV platform ecosystem – with its trusted global partners.
Before iOS, Android, and smartphones, there were already attempts to build an operating system for TVs. WebTV was released in 1996 before being acquired by Microsoft (later converted into MSN TV). That same year, Palm created Palm OS, a mobile operating system developed for personal digital assistants (PDAs) - the ancestors of today's smartphones and tablets. Palm was acquired by Hewlett-Packard, which decided to make it open source and renamed as Open webOS. The operating system was later sold to LG Electronics, which used it primarily to power its smart TVs, paving the way to a fierce competition in the space with other TV manufacturers - most basically forced to use Android-based interfaces, until recently.
Since its launch on LG Smart TVs in 2014, webOS became one of the most widely used smart TV platforms in the world. Beyond the 200 million LG TVs worldwide, webOS is now supporting several third-party TV brands in multiple markets. Moving forward, LG plans to extend webOS to more third-party TV companies and expand the platform to other product categories, within 3 years, LG expects to have over 300 million webOS-powered devices.
To deliver the unmatched convenience and expansive ecosystem of webOS to a broader customer base, LG has already applied its platform webOS to a range of categories, including projectors, digital signage, and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
Moreover, the number of third-party partner brands that have embraced webOS Hub, the webOS solution for third-party brands, has grown substantially, increasing from 20 just two years ago to over 300 today. During that time, webOS Hub has undergone meaningful upgrades with the variety of content on offer expanding to include cloud gaming and OTT services, and new features arriving to enhance convenience and the overall user experience. Additionally, some of LG's partner TV brands have now introduced their own OLED TVs powered by webOS Hub.
The webOS smart TV platform is continuously evolving, providing seamless upgrades that add support for new services, and bringing constant refinement to the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design based on LG's deep understanding of customers. So that as many users as possible can enjoy the latest version of webOS on their home TVs, LG is offering seamless support for TV operating system upgrades and updates via platform upgrades – including for earlier TV models.
LG is set to make a substantial investment of KRW 1 trillion in its webOS business over the next five years in order to provide more content and services that cater to the diverse lifestyles and preferences of consumers. By boosting its competitiveness in content and services, LG believes it will further elevate the webOS user experience.
LG's strategic investment will be focused on broadening the range of content available via the webOS platform, boosting usability by innovating the UI and UX, and strengthening partnerships with content production companies on a global scale.Such as the integration of Sye, a Prime Video proprietary, low latency technology that will benefit LG customers who are fans of live streaming sports. LG TVs deliver Netflix HDR streaming and have just opened the beta release for Netflix Games on TV and with the launch of the lifestyle screens for Gen Z the company worked with YouTube to make a Native Touch UX available for the app on models such as StanbyME.
LG is also strengthening innovation in the area of AI-based search and recommendations. The company plans to incorporate a voice user interface (VUI) feature into partner companies' apps, which will let webOS users easily control and navigate third-party content services with their voice, and enable swift and seamless content discovery.
Service usability will likewise be enhanced. LG Channels 3.0, LG's premium, free streaming service, boasts a growing selection of TV series and has a revamped UI that allows users to view more content options, including live channels and movies, on the screen, reducing the need to scroll. And thanks to the new UI, users can now easily explore what's on other channels without having to pause or navigate away from what they're watching.
Available in 27 countries worldwide, LG Channels currently offers over 3,000 channels and has over 50 million subscribers as of March 2023. In 2022 alone, the number of unique devices on which LG Channels was used increased by 75 percent, while viewing time rose by 57 percent, and usage-frequency surged to make the service one of the top-five most-accessed apps on the webOS platform.
LG is actively investing in its smart TV platform development capabilities by partnering with academic institutions in South Korea to nurture the next generation of software talent, and by reinforcing its efforts to secure top-notch software professionals all around the globe.
"LG is poised to transform into a media and entertainment platform company that delivers distinctive content and services that will enhance the lives of its customers," says Park Hyoung-sei, president of the LG Home Entertainment Company, speaking at webOS Partner Summit 2023. "This transformation would not be possible without LG's decade of OLED TV leadership and the technological innovation of the webOS smart TV platform."
Software Developer Conference 2023
Under the Theme of "The Possibilities of Convergence," LG's Software Developer Conference 2023 promoted also at LG Sciencepark in Seoul, South Korea, opened an exchange of technological expertise with professional software developers.
Hosted by the LG Software Council, a body composed of LG affiliates and chaired by LG Electronics, the conference included 33 presentations covering six different areas of the software sector landscape: AI/big data, mobility/automotive, platform/architecture, software technology/development culture, cloud and emerging technology.
More than 1,000 software engineers from LG Electronics and LG affiliates, and from global software companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft, participated in the conference to share technology and development know-how. SDC 2023 kicked off with keynote speeches from Bae Kyung-hoon, director of the LG AI Research Institute, and James Gosling, a distinguished engineer at AWS who is best known as the founder and lead designer of the Java programming language. Bae introduced LG’s ultra-large multimodal AI solution – EXAONE 2.0 – and outlined how it will be utilized within the LG Group, while Gosling shared his extensive career in software development.
LG feels that software is crucial in connecting the various spaces in people’s lives and to creating an expanded and more connected customer experience. To this end, LG is collaborating with major universities in Korea and around the globe to identify and secure new talent in software development, and is operating an in-house program to accelerate the training of new software programers and designers. The company is also running its own training and competency certification programs to foster the next wave of LG software experts.
LG has been hosting software development conferences since 2016 to allow its business units to share their technological expertise and to fortify the wider company’s software capabilities. Beginning in 2022, these events were expanded to include LG affiliates.
LG webOS Hackathon
LG USA announced a call for participation in a landmark smart TV hackathon featuring its webOS TV Developers’ platform. Developers are invited to apply for a spot to present their ideas to LG executives onstage at the LG NOVA Innovation Festival, taking place on October 25-26 at the Hibernia in San Francisco.
The webOS TV web-centric smart TV platform powers LG Smart TVs, including its line of critically acclaimed LG OLED TVs, and enables developers to create apps and third-party services to manage media, devices, security, networking, TV functionalities and more. The webOS TV Developer platform provides the ability for developers to build a service or app for webOS-based LG Smart TVs in millions of consumer homes today.
"New technologies and ideas are at the heart of transforming how we work, play and live. The goal of this hackathon is to push the boundaries of how we view the Smart TV," says Matt Durgin, vice president of LG content and services at LG Electronics USA. "LG wants to hear from innovators and developers with grand ideas or business proposals, who are ready to start developing those ideas through our webOS TV developer platform and turn them into real business opportunities."
Interested developers can get more information and sign up at www.lgnova.com/innofest/webos-hackathon.
https://webostv.developer.lge.com
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