IFA 2011 – BERLIN. LG has joined the alliance Dutch CE manufacturer Philips is building around its connected TV system. At last year’s IFA, Philips, Sharp and Loewe signed a letter of intent to create a common, competitive internet platform for connected TVs.
The announcement was made by Philips TV group CEO Robert Smits, who said the common platform would be base on open standards such as HTML5, CE-HTML and HbbTV. Although he gave no details, the first step will be the release of a Software Development Kit in October.
The Philips-led alliance will compete with similar proprietary systems from Sony, Samsung and Panasonic. “Currently, developers must devote a lot of time and effort to develop and test their application on various TV platforms,” said Smits. A common platform should solve this issue and lower the entry level for content owners.
The question reamins how long CE manufacturers can keep their own systems – at this year’s IFA Panasonic already announce it will also add HbbTV functionlity to its connected TV sets, while previously the manufactier said it would not do so.
