UPDATED 07:30 EDT / JANUARY 08 2015

LG Going All In, Big And Small, On webOS NEWS

LG drops Android for WebOS-powered smartwatch coming in 2016

LG Going All In, Big And Small, On webOS

LG Electronics Inc. has a new range of smartwatches in the works slated for release in early 2016. Unlike the company’s current line, the G Watch and the G Watch R, which runs Google Inc.’s Android operating system (OS) for smartwatches, Android Wear, the new lineup will run WebOS.

An anonymous source, speaking to the Wall Street Journal at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, said, “We’re going to slowly try to build an (software) ecosystem around areas we can have more control over.”

LG is on a drive to incorporate WebOS, which it acquired from Hewlett-Packard in 2013, into more devices. It already powers the company’s range of smart TVs and in a press conference at CES on Monday, LG Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Skott Ahn, said that, “The WebOS platform has also been expanded to LG’s signage and hotel TVs, allowing customers to experience the true value of IoT outside of their homes.”

At CES on Tuesday, Ulrich Hackenberg, board member for technical development at Audi AG, used a LG smartwatch to summon a self-driving Audi Prologue to stage. The watch’s unique design instantaneously sparked a debate over which OS the watch was running. After initial reports that it was running Google’s Android Wear, Android Central confirmed that the LG/Audi smartwatch in fact runs a version of LG’s WebOS.

What design direction LG’s WebOS powered smartwatches are likely to take remains to be seen, but if the LG/Audi prototype is anything to go by, it is bound to be visually stunning.

photo credit: TechStage via photopin cc

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