LG Electronics has formed a business alliance with foreign television makers in an effort to promote smart TVs worldwide.
Korea’s second biggest consumer electronics company has forged partnerships with TP Vision, the Netherlands/Taiwanese TV maker, and Japan-based Sharp.
The consortium, named the “Smart TV Alliance,” to be headed by LG Electronics executive Kwon Bong-suk, is the first of its kind in the global TV industry.
“We expect this partnership to further boost the smart TV ecosystem, while providing a foothold for the smart TV industry to take off,” Kwon said.
As a start, the group of three TV manufacturers will launch its first “Software Development Kit” where software or content developers can access programming sources and tools to create and upload their applications for smart TVs.
The kit platform, to be launched late this month, will be based on HTML 5: developers can create their apps as if for the World Wide Web without having to worry about developing the same apps for different operating systems.
Programmers currently face the difficulty and hassle of having to develop the same apps separately for Google Android and Apple iOS platforms, which are not cross-compatible.
HTML 5, which is the standard software for Internet browsers, is a “one-stop solution service” for developers, who can save time when making and showing their apps, an industry source said.
However, the source said it may take some time for consumers to get used to and fully embrace smart TVs, especially 3-D ones, which many consider to be just “big smartphones.”
Further, consumers are generally not comfortable wearing 3-D eyeglasses for a long period of time at home, compared to at movie theaters where they only have to wear them for two hours, the source added.
The LG-led consortium plans to feature its first apps sometime in the third quarter of this year, LG Electronics said.
The Korean tech firm said it hopes this alliance will further help consumers see a variety of quality content including games, music, news and video on demand.
By Park Hyong-ki (
hkp@heraldcorp.com)