LG Launches Cloud Storage Service, Emphasizes Streaming Media

South Korean electronics company LG will be joining the pool of competitors in the cloud storage market: The company announced today it will be launching a new service, LG Cloud, that will allow people to share content across Android-based smartphones, smart TVs and PCs.

One of its main points of differentiation for LG Cloud from services such as Google Drive or Dropbox is its emphasis on streaming video and viewing media. LG is touting its new cloud service's ability to stream content to television screens, which includes some 3D televisions. LG smartphone and smart TV owners will be eligible for 50GB of free storage for six months. Others who sign up for the service will be given 5GB of free storage, the same free storage capacity that Google and Dropbox offer.

LG Cloud will be available in the Google Play store starting May 1 and it will also be available in the LG SmartWorld app store from the company's Android smartphones. LG television owners will be able to get the app from the SmartWorld store on the same date. The service is still under the beta tag. Customers can expect more features to be added to the paid service once the beta tag is taken off of the service.

Most companies today only see the cloud as a storage device or in the case of YouTube or Flickr, only for one type of content, said LG's Mr. Kwon in a written statement. LG makes the devices that millions of people watch content on so we can set a new yardstick for ease of use by setting up our own cloud service. Tomorrow's consumers don't want to go to one cloud for music, another cloud for video, another location for photos and yet another cloud for their office files. In the end, our solution is about making life more convenient.