LG Electronics has begun rolling out activation of Amazon Alexa built in to its 2019 TV models that feature artificial intelligence.
The update will begin going live today and will be go through the Alexa app installed on LG UHD, NanoCell and OLED TVs with AI ThinQ. The update will continue to rollout in phases over the next few weeks. LG in 2018 introduced Google Assistant support for its smart TVs.
"The addition of Alexa to our 2019 AI TVs makes LG the only TV brand that comes equipped both voice assistant platforms," said Tim Alessi, head of home entertainment product marketing at LG Electronics USA, in a statement. "LG is always focused on delivering the most diverse range of services. The arrival of Alexa on our 2019 TVs delivers a new level of simplicity and convenience to the lives of our customers."
RELATED: Samsung’s Tizen OS dominates global smart TV market
The Amazon Alexa integration will allow LG smart TV owners to ask questions, control smart home products and access Alexa Skills without needing to use an external Alexa-supported device. LG said that its ThinQ AI conversational voice recognition technology will be able to handle more complex voice commands.
The updates could help LG’s webOS smart TV platform catch up with Samsung’s Tizen in terms of global smart TV operating system market share. Strategy Analytics earlier this year released market research suggesting that about one in five smart TVs sold today run on the Tizen platform. WebOS accounts for 12% of the global market.
In the U.S. though Roku TV is emerging as that smart TV platform to beat. Strategy Analytics said that nearly one in every four smart TVs sold last year ran the Roku TV OS, and earlier this month Roku claimed that figure is closer to one in every three, putting Roku TV OS ahead of Tizen in the U.S.