LG Buys HP's WebOS for Smart TVs
CE Company to Use Palm-Developed Operating System Across a Range of Devices
By: Todd Spangler
Multichannel News
Feb 25 2013 - 2:52pm
http://www.multichannel.com/internet-video/lg-buys-hps-webos-smart-tvs/141900
LG Electronics has acquired Hewlett-Packard’s webOS operating system --
originally developed by Palm as a rival to Apple's iOS -- which LG plans
to use to support its next-generation smart TVs as well as a range of
other consumer-electronics devices, the companies announced today.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. HP and LG said they do not expect
the transaction to have a material impact on either company's financial
statements.
LG said it entered into a definitive agreement with HP to acquire the
source code, associated documentation, engineering talent and related
websites associated with webOS, according to the companies. In addition,
LG will receive licenses under HP's intellectual property for use with
its webOS products, including patents acquired from Palm covering
fundamental operating system and user interface technologies now in
broad use across the industry.
"This groundbreaking development demonstrates LG's commitment to
investing in talent and research in Silicon Valley, one of the world's
innovation hotbeds," Skott Ahn, LG’s president and chief technology
officer, said in a statement. “It creates a new path for LG to offer an
intuitive user experience and Internet services across a range of
consumer electronics devices.”
With the transaction, LG will add HP’s webOS offices in Sunnyvale,
Calif., and San Francisco to its global R&D locations, in addition to
its existing U.S. sites in San Jose and Chicago.
Under the agreement, LG will assume stewardship of the open source
projects of Open webOS and Enyo. HP will retain ownership of all of
Palm's cloud computing assets, including source code, talent,
infrastructure and contracts, and also will continue to support Palm users.
HP acquired Palm in 2010 in a deal valued at $1.2 billion. In 2011, HP
launched a line of tablets and smartphones based on webOS, but scrapped
them less than two months later after poor sales.
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