LG fires part of webOS development team

LG has fired some of the people working on webOS development. It would be about twenty developers, but the Korean manufacturer states that it will continue to develop the operating system for televisions.

Several LG employees, who are housed in the so-called Silicon Valley Lab, have announced that they have been laid off. LG told The Verge that about 20 employees have been laid off in an effort to make operations more efficient and thus cut costs. The company does this by merging the user interface and product management groups.

In the statement, LG said the layoffs “will in no way negatively impact webOS development.” However, sources tell The Verge that with the slimmed-down team it will be “challenging” to continue development. The future must therefore show to what extent the webOS platform is still being developed.

Although LG says the webOS continues to evolve, the operating system has been plagued by setbacks several times. For example, creator Palm was unable to make a fist in the market for smartphones and mobile phones with the OS, and it was not a success after acquisition by HP. LG has been using the operating system for its televisions for some time, after having bought it from HP.