On Tuesday, LG Electronics Inc. held a global conference to improve its smart TV content and platform business. The South Korean tech firm’s webOS Partner Summit, located at LG Science Park in Seoul, gathered approximately 300 content creators and business partners from 30 countries to extend the webOS ecosystem and values. Park Hyoung-sei, president of LG Electronics’ home entertainment division, stated that the company was aiming to make a shift from hardware to a media and entertainment platform that provides various content and services for users.
LG is planning to expand the number of web-OS operated smart TVs, currently at 200 million worldwide, to 300 million by 2026. To do this, the company is investing 1 trillion won over the next five years in webOS content production and user-friendliness. To date, over 300 TV brands have adopted webOS since LG began supplying the operating system to other TV manufacturers in 2021.
This event comes as LG is striving to become a “smart life solutions provider” rather than a traditional home appliance maker. The firm is focusing on customer services, digitalization, electrification of traditional home gadgets, and automobiles. In July, LG declared that it would allocate more resources to non-hardware products, business-to-business solutions, and new growth areas, such as healthcare and robots. To achieve this, the company is investing over 50 trillion won, including 25 trillion won in research and development and 17 trillion won in infrastructure.
Last week, LG hosted an annual software developer conference to encourage technology trends and expertise among software developers. In recent years, LG has been actively diversifying its business portfolio and making strategic decisions to remain competitive in the tech industry.
jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr
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