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LG
Electronics Inc. has acquired the webOS operating system technology from HP
,
the companies announced today.
To support its next-generation Smart TV technology, LG has entered into a
definitive agreement with HP to acquire the source code, associated
documentation, engineering talent and related websites associated with webOS.
As part of the transaction, LG also will receive licenses under HP's
intellectual property (IP) 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.
Today's announcement paves the way for continued innovation on the webOS
platform and on LG's roadmap of innovative solutions for many years to come,
while allowing HP to focus its resources on strategic business opportunities
such as cloud computing.
"This groundbreaking development demonstrates LG's commitment to investing in
talent and research in Silicon Valley, one of the world's innovation hotbeds.
It creates a new path for LG to offer an intuitive user experience and
Internet services across a range of consumer electronics devices," said Skott
Ahn, president and chief technology officer, LG Electronics Inc. "The open and
transparent webOS technology offers a compelling user experience that, when
combined with our own technology, will pave the way for future innovations
using the latest Web technologies."
Ahn explained that LG Electronics' investment in webOS technology and its
acquisition of the innovation team's R&D capabilities are expected to extend
LG's leadership in bringing Internet services directly to consumer electronics
devices. "Integrated with LG, this team will be the heart and soul of the new
LG Silicon Valley Lab, focused on bringing innovative technology solutions to
market through the most popular platforms for sharing and consuming content
and experiences," he said. With the transaction, LG will add the Sunnyvale and
San Francisco sites to its global R&D locations, in addition to its existing
U.S. sites in San Jose and Chicago.
Also under the agreement:
o LG will assume stewardship of the open source projects of Open webOS and
Enyo.
o HP will retain ownership of all of Palm's cloud computing assets,
including source code, talent, infrastructure and contracts.
o HP will continue to support Palm users.
"WebOS and its associated community deliver market leading platforms for the
next generation of connected devices. We are constantly looking for
opportunities to accelerate the delivery of this platform from the community,"
said Bill Veghte, HP's chief operating officer. "LG's track record of
innovation and broad distribution provides this opportunity, while enabling HP
to accelerate our Cloud efforts. In particular, with the cloud assets that
will remain with HP, we will focus on delivering innovative solutions that
will enable our enterprise customers to mobilize their workforce."
HP and LG do not expect this transaction to have a material impact on either
company's financial statements. Terms were not disclosed.
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