LG Cloud, a streaming service for all three of your screens, launches on May 1st
LG is entering the cloud service race, allowing users to upload their content to the company's servers and stream it to all of their devices. LG Cloud enters beta on May 1st and will let you access …
Context & Ripple Effects
LG had already treated the television as an internet endpoint through its Netflix streaming plan and later added its own TV app platform. LG Cloud extends that strategy beyond a single screen by making a user’s uploaded media available across LG devices.
The launch also arrives as LG says it is refocusing its handset business on Android, tying the value of its phones more closely to the company’s television and PC ecosystem rather than to a standalone mobile operating system.
First-order effects
- LG device owners gain a single LG-hosted library for uploading and streaming personal content across their screens as the beta opens May 1.
- LG’s TVs, phones and PCs become mutually reinforcing endpoints for LG Cloud, adding a service layer to the company’s hardware portfolio.
Second-order effects
- LG’s TV software strategy must compete not only for video apps but for the place where customers organize and retrieve their own media, following its earlier Netflix and app-platform efforts.
- An Android-focused handset lineup gives LG a clearer route to make mobile access part of its cross-screen service proposition, increasing the importance of consistent account and playback experiences.
Third-order effects
- If hardware makers continue to bind storage, streaming and device software together, product differentiation shifts from any one screen toward the persistence of a customer’s digital library across screens.
- The move points to consumer electronics vendors using cloud services to retain users inside device ecosystems, with TV platforms serving as a key living-room endpoint rather than a separate product category.
The trend: Consumer-electronics makers are turning connected TVs, phones and PCs into coordinated service ecosystems built around a portable digital library.