LG Electronics (LGE) began to find competent smart TV app developers to reinforce the smart TV OS ‘Web OS’ ecosystem. It aims to fund promising developers, help them with commercialization, develop Web OS platform contents and create the ecosystem.

According to a high-ranking official of LGE and the industry on January 21, the HE (Home Entertainment) Company of LGE recently reinforced the organization in charge of finding Web OS smart TV app developers and began to find promising developers in the industry. It reflects LGE’s will to develop the Web OS into a contents platform, not simply an OS for TV.

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<LG Web OS smart TV with Web OS 2.0 / Electronic Times DB >

For starters, they will locate developers or contents planners recommended internally or by the industry¸and check if the Web OS can be applied to them. If they have excellent contents but do not have enough development capabilities, LGE’s technical staff will assist them with app development. A considerable number of the items are related to entertainment, such as games and music. They are easily visible in the market, but the developers are expanding the Web OS ecosystem by trying to develop healthcare-related apps.

In addition, LGE will aggressively publicize the Web OS in the industry. The company will enhance the programming capabilities of developers and exchange contents information by providing app development education frequently. It will also emphasize that the Web OS is based on HTML5 and easy to develop. Kwon Bong-seok, head of the HE Company of LGE, said, “The Web OS is not only convenient to use, but also convenient in developing apps as it is based on HTML5.”

The industry believes that these moves made by LGE reflect its intention to make the smart TV app development industry, which is now virtually deserted, into friendly forces. Creation of the smart TV ecosystem has been making slow progress, and TV manufacturers developed smart TV apps on their own or delegated it to a handful of companies since the second half of 2013 and thus developers have not had any key customers since then.

The industry is positive about LGE’s efforts. “LGE are active in marketing and developing additional products with regard to not only TVs but also its other products,” said an app development company insider. “It is helping the apps made by developers grow.”

In particular, there are high expectations about making inroads into overseas markets. “In the Central and South America the LG Web OS is ranked No. 1 in the smart TV segment,” said another insider. “It will be quite effective if it is linked to the contents preferred locally like the K-Pop.”