LG Electronics has announced it has already sold over 1 million of its webOS-powered Smart+ TVs, with the company saying it aims to sell 10 million by the first half of next year.
In January, LG surprised many industry analysts when, during the Consumer Electronics Show, it abandoned long-time partner Google and its Android TV platform for its smart TVs, instead opting to revive the webOS platform.
The webOS platform was originally developed by Palm, makers of the popular Palm Pilot series, as an all-touch operating system and platform for smartphones and tablets, however it had been shelved following a 2010 takeover by HP.
The company is currently rolling out the platform globally and expects to have smart TVs running the platform to be available in 150 markets by the end of the month.
In-kyu Lee, vice president and head of LG Electronics’ TV division, says the choice of webOS was driven by a choice of simplicity over “continuing to add more and more functions into our smart TVs that few people will ever use”.
“Consumers seem to share our view that this is the right direction for the evolution of smart TVs going forward,” Lee says.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
