With the advent of Android Wear, LG had a platform that they could confidently enter the smartwatch game with and since then we’ve seen LG launch the G Watch, with a new G Watch R launching soon. However, it seems that Android Wear might not be enough for LG and it now appears that the company is going to bring WebOS to the wrist. WebOS has had a rocky past, after going from being the platform that could take on the iPhone in the original Palm Pre years ago to a platform that HP gave up on far too quickly. Since then, the platform sort of went Open Source, and languished with little active development, until LG came along and purchased what was left of the platform to create a new WebOS smart TV platform.
Now though, LG is preparing WebOS to scale down to a much, much smaller form factor with a developer site for an upcoming LG SmartWatch using a “new Web-centric platform”. If that wasn’t blatant enough, the whole site proclaims that the watch is on the horizon with the tagline “WebOS SmartWatch for Developers” and there’s even a Beta SDK that budding developers can download.
Why would LG want to create another platform for their smartwatches? Well, choice is the obvious reason, but it’s probably got more to do with LG being able to tie a WebOS watch and their smartphone software closer together. Google have put their foot down with Android Wear and we’re all grateful for that, but having more than one platform for smartwatches isn’t a bad idea. In fact, this would allow LG to create watches designed specifically for their G line of smartphones, while also giving everyone else a watch to purchase no matter what phone their using. This is something that Samsung doesn’t seem to have grasped, with the arguably mediocre (in comparison to the Gear 2 line) Gear Live being overshadowed by the Gear 2 line of products.
There’s no telling when LG is planning on launching such a device, but if anything the TouchPad and Palm Pre fan inside of me is just glad to see WebOS being used for something other than TVs.