LG Thinks WebOS Is Ready For Prime Time

In a move no one suspected, LG has reportedly acquired webOS. Made official this morning, LG plans to leverage the promising-but-shelved operating system as the basis for new smartTVs. There was talk of LG licensing webOS for that purpose back in October 2012, but it appears it was simpler to buy it outright. I had a chance to talk to John Taylor, LG’s Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, and he shed some light on a few things.

Firstly, I want to note that it was hard to tell who was more excited. I freely admit to being a webOS fan, and Taylor is clearly jazzed to be discussing the deal, the tech, and the new talent that was joining LG.

When asked how this acquisition would impact the open webOS community, Taylor notes that LG feels open source is important and had nothing but positive things to say about the development community. Considering that webOS has an active developer community, that’s good to hear.

Makes me wonder if the Konami Code will still work.

Wondering what impact this will have on LG’s existing relationship with Google to make GoogleTV set-top boxes? Taylor dismisses any such concerns. Of LG’s myriad smart TVs, LG has a total of eight GoogleTV devices, and there’s no real reason that both product lines can’t co-exist. One thing Taylor mentions is that GoogleTV has a distinct target audience, while webOS on LG will be aimed at a wider market.

Taylor effusively talks about the look and feel of webOS, saying it’s in line with the design ethos of LG’s Magic Mouse. Except when one thinks about it, webOS is touch and gesture centric. Could LG be planning on a new remote to take advantage of that?

Imagine gesturing with this.

Those hoping LG will bring webOS back to phones should likely not get their hopes up. Even with webOS now running on a standard Android kernel, LG is just now starting to see good handset numbers for the first time since the original Optimus. Only a fool would mess with that for a shot in the already crowded race for the number three OS slot. Taylor’s delight over Techcitement’s favorable review of the Optimus G leads me to believe that LG is quite happy with Android at this time.

All in all though, webOS is a smart choice for a smartTV. The best features have always been multitasking and the ability to loop in accounts from other services, dubbed Synergy. I have yet to see a mobile OS solution come anywhere near close to the elegance and robustness of Synergy, and it’s something smartTVs desperately need. Add to that the clear enthusiasm that the company has for it and it’s almost enough to make a webOS fan hopeful again.