Apple Analyst: With WebOS, LG Could Have A Huge Winner On Its Hands

LG announced this week that it bought WebOS, the mobile operating system that used to be Palm before it was purchased by HP.

After failing with its WebOS TouchPad tablet, HP decided to make WebOS a free open source platform that anyone can use.

But now LG owns part of WebOS and says it will use the software to power future web-connected smart TVs.

Analyst Horace Dediu says this could be a huge opportunity for LG. No one, not even Apple, has figured out how to become the dominant player in the living room, meaning LG has a chance to swoop in and make WebOS the platform of choice for TVs.

Here's Dediu:

As long as LG sells TVs as content terminals they might not obtain much value from WebOS. If, on the other hand, LG were to use webOS to re-define their televisions to be something else entirely, namely software execution devices, sold differently and hired to do a different job than a TV, then webOS becomes not only necessary but potentially a source of great prosperity.

That's easier said than done, of course. But Dediu's point is that TV is still an open playing field for tech companies.

Plus we already know some surprising players are getting into TV, most notably Intel, which will launch a new set-top box later this year.