LG Purchases WebOS From HP For Use In Smart TVs
LG announced today that it would be acquiring WebOS from Hewlett-Packard and incorporating the technology into its smart televisions.
With this deal, LG obtains WebOS source code, documentation, engineering support, and related WebOS web sites. LG will also get HP WebOS product licenses and patents originally obtained from Palm. Financial aspects of the deal haven’t yet been disclosed.
WebOS was Palm’s ground-breaking mobile operating system based on web technologies like HTML and JavaScript. HP had high hopes for WebOS when it acquired Palm in 2010, but over the course of 16 months the company ended hardware development and canceled open-sourcing of the operating system.
LG has already announced plans to incorporate WebOS in its smart televisions, but the move to formally purchase the software and related resources demonstrates that the company has solidified its strategy for creating a better end-user experience for living rooms.
Skott Ahn, president and CTO of LG Electronics, Inc., said, “It creates a new path for LG to offer an intuitive user experience and Internet services across a range of consumer electronics devices.”
According to LG, the WebOS team will comprise the “heart and soul” of the new LG Silicon Valley Lab, with its San Francisco and Sunnyvale, Calif. offices joining LG’s global R&D locations in the Valley, in conjunction with WebOS offices in San Jose and Chicago.
