UK: John Lewis major store launching own branded WebOS Smart TV in May.
One major British retailer will be selling an own-branded version from "next month." As described by the folks at Pocket-Lint, department store John Lewis, will be selling three different sized webOS TVs – 49-, 55-, and 60-inches – and is already advertising them in its Spring 2014 catalog.
The JL9000 won't be cheap, with prices starting from £1499 for the smallest version. You'll also get a built in soundbar for your money, and honestly, what looks to be a pretty fine looking TV, too. But it's all about the webOS, and while John Lewis maybe isn't the first place you'd go for a TV, it's another step towards getting these things into the mainstream.
John Lewis will be collaborating with LG on its own-brand smart TV using LG's webOS platform.
The details are included in the John Lewis Spring 2014 Technology catalogue, revealing that there will be three sets with 49, 55 and 60-inch screen sizes available for the JL9000 Smart HD TV. (picture above)
The design incorporates a 2.1 soundbar into the stand, so as well as delivering the visuals, it should sound pretty good too.
But most of the interest will be around the new webOS interface. Launched by LG at CES 2014, it sees the return of the platform that gained followers across Palm/HP Pre mobile devices for a short time a few years back.
It promises to offer a more integrated user experience across your TV, pulling both live and on-demand content into the EPG, delivering all those connected services you expect from a smart TV.
John Lewis says you'll have BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Demand 5, Now TV, YouTube, Skype, Twitter and Facebook.
You'll also be able to control HDMI devices through the TV interface, although exactly how it will sit with your Sky EPG, for example, remains to be seen. The John Lewis TVs will come with a Magic Remote, which we'd imagine is very much the same as that from LG, allowing you to point and click through the tab-tabed UI, rather than being faced with endless menu scrolling.
Our first impressions of webOS from the launch announcement in January were good, so it's nice to see it spreading into the high street through John Lewis.
The John Lewis JL9000 Smart HD TV will cost you £1499 for the 49-inch version, £1899 for the 55-inch version, or £2299 for the 60-inch version.
There's no precise date, John Lewis is simply saying "next month". We've asked John Lewis for more information and will update if we hear anything more.
Pocket-Link via connectely. Buy the LG WebOS Smart LED TV on Amazon store:
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