It seems Samsung isn't the only one who wants to strike off on its own with an alternative mobile platform. In an accidentally published and quickly pulled down developer preview webpage, LG has been revealed to be working on a smartwwatch platform that is based on the similarly troubled webOS operating system.
webOS, like Tizen, has had a colorful and tumultuous history. It started as the successor to Palm OS before parent company ACCESS was bought by HP. HP briefly continued its development, even open sourcing it, before eventually halting development on its side and selling the platform to LG. Since then, LG has been using it to power some of its smart TVs, but now it seems that LG has more ambitious plans for it.
Like Android and Tizen, webOS is a Linux-based operating system but it has more in common with Tizen in that the platform revolves more around web-centric technologies and languages, in particular Javascript. Its card-based interface, first seen on the relatively few webOS devices such as the Palm Pre and the HP Touchpad, in theory makes for a good UI idiom on a smartwatch, not unlike Google's own card system for Android Wear. Unlike Tizen, webOS has had a bit more exposure in actual commercial devices, from smartphones to tablets to TVs, though Tizen has the advantage of more or less being well-tested by now on Samsung's Gear smartwatches.
This move by LG is quite unexpected, considering that the company has given no indication that it is interested in taking webOS beyond the current smart TV implementation. Perhaps it is fueled by its rivalry with Samsung, though it should probably also be aware of Samsung's precarious relationship with Google over that matter. LG claims that it has many internal projects that never really see the light of day, but a developer portal for webOS smartwatch development still hints that the company is at least mulling over that possibility.
VIA: SlashGear