LG's WebOS may power a smartwatch

The operating system has moved around to a handful of companies over the years, but it's gaining new life under LG.

Ben Fox Rubin Former senior reporter

Ben Fox Rubin was a senior reporter for CNET News in Manhattan, reporting on Amazon, e-commerce and mobile payments. He previously worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and got his start at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

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Ben Fox Rubin

Oct. 2, 2014 7:14 a.m. PT

The LG G Watch R, which runs on Google's Android Wear. CNET

LG may be bringing WebOS to a smartwatch, expanding the operating system into wearables after already using it to power smart TVs.

The Verge on Thursday noticed a developer website hosted by LG that mentioned something it called the LG SmartWatch that would be powered by WebOS. The developer site was soon after taken down, the tech site reported, after it reached out to LG.

LG, a Korea-based tech giant, told the site "there are many initiatives going on at LG at any given moment. The majority of them never see the light of day." An LG representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from CNET.

WebOS is something of a nomadic operating system, created by handset maker Palm, then taken in by Hewlett-Packard when it acquired Palm. LG bought WebOS from HP last year and has since added it into smart TVs. While WebOS has faced a rocky existence, it maintains a fan base, thanks to a multitasking feature based on apps presented as cards. Those fans may be excited to find WebOS returning to mobile devices, though LG at the moment hasn't provided much information.

LG has created two smartwatches, the G Watch and G Watch R , which both run on Google's Android Wear operating system. LG could be placing a bet on its own operating system as a balance against Android -- which already dominates smartphones -- a tactic Samsung appears to be taking with its Tizen operating system.