From smart refrigerators and WebOS Smart TVs to flexible phones, LG has announced a bevy of new products for its 2014 line at CES 2014. But amidst all the new additions, the main message of today's LG Press Conference was innovation.
"LG gained market share in all our key markets from plasma TVs to refrigerators to smartphones," William Cho, President of LG Electronics USA."
The statement from the Korean electronics maker was a far cry from its past. Once regarded as just another appliance maker, LG made a show of strength from a wide variety of products from every sector.
"At LG we embrace change," Wayne Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics North America expounded at the beginning of the press conference. "It's all possible."
Looking towards the future
The latest innovations the company shared were the bendy LG G Flex, WebOS powered Smart TVs and the Lifeband Touch fitness tracker that lets users text to command their washing machines.
The latter item has been a technological dream since the 60s space age and the Jetsons. But of all the electronics companies, LG claims it can be one of the few that can actually pull it off as it makes everything - including the smartphones to control them.
Taking each of LG's touted "innovations" on their own, the electronic maker can easily be criticized as doing nothing novel between using a licensed OS from HP to power its TVs, catching up with the fitness tracker crowd, and chasing the same dream of home automation since eternity.
But we can't dissuade LG's recent victories, where it has made headway in the phone space since creating the Optimus G and brokering a deal with Google to develop the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5. In an endless race to build better and more powerful phones, an ecosystem of controllable appliances could give LG an edge in both the phone and personal electronics spaces.
Building on success
At the event LG, also celebrated its previous innovations by inviting Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to the stage.
"The heritage of innovation is not shared by everyone but at LG we want to say how impressed we are," Hastings said.
Hastings credited the Korean electronics maker as the first to put streaming applications into its Blu-Ray player and its unique Magic Remote - a trackball and motion sensor equipped control device.
"People who invest in LG TVs will be able to stream in 4K and navigate with WebOS," Hastings said.
It might be a simple partnership, but it's clear LG is making a big push at this years CES to differentiate itself as an innovator.
