After having appointed a new CEO at the end of last year, LG wants to point out a better direction for its mobile business and today it has opened the doors to a new Software Update Center. This facility is part of LG's new research and development center in western Seoul, and is set up with the express objective of accelerating Android software updates for LG phone owners around the world. As new CEO Jo Seong-jin says in a statement accompanying the news, "stable and consistent updates will show our customers that LG smartphones have a long and reliable lifespan."
Many people will wonder why LG took almost a decade to make Android phones before they realized the importance of updating those devices in a reliable and timely manner. The first task of the software update team will be to deliver Android Oreo as an update to last year's flagship, the LG G6, later this month. Several weeks later, Android's most proactive rivals updated their own flagship phones.
The period of adjustment that surrounds LG's change of leadership could have contributed to the post-regular publication of its upcoming G7 ThinQ smartphone. The company's press release undoubtedly alludes to the new CEO that drives the establishment of the Software Update Center announced today, which is accompanied by an unexpected promise to "invest significant resources to extend the life of smartphones." If there is substance behind the rhetoric of the new boss, the G7 and other future LG phones could be taken a little more seriously as competitors of the dominant Apple and Samsung devices. But only time and genuine change can generate the confidence that LG currently does not have.