LG today announced that it will begin to license out its webOS TV operating system to other television manufacturers. The company said that more than 20 TV manufacturers from all over the world had signed on to the partnership, including RCA, Ayonz and Konka.
The webOS system — which LG announced will receive a pretty significant overhaul this year — competes alongside other proprietary built-in platforms like Samsung's Smart TV OS, Roku TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV.
“The webOS platform is one of the easiest and most convenient way to access millions of hours of movies and TV shows,” said Park Hyoung-sei, president of the LG Home Entertainment Company. “By welcoming other manufacturers to join the webOS TV ecosystem, we are embarking on a new path that allows many new TV owners to experience the same great UX and features that are available on LG TVs. We look forward to bringing these new customers into the incredible world of webOS TV.”
The third-party webOS TVs also would include the LG "Magic Motion" remote control. In addition to serving as a traditional remote, it also allows users to point the remote at the screen and control menus with a pointer-type mechanism.
The webOS platform supports many of the major streaming services with downloadable apps, meaning that users might not have to use any other sort of hardware to watch the shows and movies they want to watch. The webOS platform also has its own online marketplace as a means to spur traditional retail purchases. It also can support over-the-air TV via a built-in tuner, with ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV also supported.
No word on when, exactly, we could expect to see webOS-powered TVs from someone other than LG, so stay tuned.
