Google set to face competition insmartTVmkt
NEW DELHI: Google may soon have more competition in India’s smartTV market, with brands, including Intex, planning to launch televisions running on LG’s webOS platform.
The original design manufacturing (ODM) licence for LG’s webOS in India is held by Videotex International, a local TV maker with factories in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida. Arjun Bajaj, director of Videotex, said at least five brands have signed up with the company to make TVs running on webOS already.
Intex announced its webOS TVs in 50-inch and 55-inch sizes earlier this month. Videotex is in the process of setting up another factory, which will double its capacity to around 4 million TV sets per year. The company manufactures TVs for brands such as Realme, Hisense and Toshiba.
Brands such as Intex and others account for a small part of the Indian market.
Brands that don’t rank in the five in India’s TV market account for 38% of the market, according to first quarter 2021 data from Counterpoint Research. Xiaomi, Samsung, LG, Sony and OnePlus make up the top five TV sellers in India in terms of shipments.
They have 17%, 16%, 14%, 10% and 5% market share, respectively.
Debasish Jana, research associate, Counterpoint Research, said that it will take more than licensing an OS to affect Google’s dominance. “Suppose if Samsung opens up Tizen tomorrow, and more brands start adopting new platforms, then it might be a threat,” he said.
Of the top five brands, LG makes TVs on its webOS platform, while Samsung uses its in-house Tizen platform. Sony, OnePlus and Xiaomi are tied to the AndroidTV operating systop tem. According to the Counterpoint data, Android accounted for 62% of India’s market in the first quarter, followed by Tizen and WebOS at 16% and 14%, respectively. 2.4 million smart TVs were shipped in India in the first quarter of the year.
Industry executives said that having an official licence holder for a platform in India reduces the cost of manufacturing TVs. Currently, there are no ODMs in India that hold an official licence to make AndroidTVs. As a result, brands using the platform in India have to pay a manufacturer, who in turn has to pay a different ODM, usually in China, that holds the AndroidTV licence. The same applies to televisions made on Amazon’s FireTV platform.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had ordered a probe into allegations that Google is abusing its market dominance in India. The complaint alleged that Google bars companies that acquired the AndroidTV licence from working with competitors.