LG webOS Smart TVs Gain Online Payment Support

Back in the days, TVs became the hub of the house. These days, each family member usually carry their own mini-hubs in the form of smartphones and tablets. Trying to reclaim their territory, TV makers have made TVs smarter so that they could do anything their owners want. Including shopping, at least for digital goods. To that end, LG has announced its partnership with Paymentwall to bring the ability to make online purchases on a host of its Smart TVs, powered by its custom webOS 3.0 platform.

Smart TVs are capable of more than just playing videos, though, of course, they still excel in that. Nowadays, people can surf the web, play mobile games, and a lot more on their TVs. Of course, some of those content are gated behind paywalls. Unfortunately, the act of buying stuff online that has become almost too natural on computers and mobile still isn't on TVs.

LG and Paymentwall want to change that by giving both app developers and users an easy way to do business. App developers will be able to hook into webOS's features to present a "Buy Now" option in their app or game. Users, on the other hand, simply need to click on that button and enter their credit card details. And since Paymentwall supports all sorts of credit and debit card and e-wallets, including MasterCard, Visa, and AliPay, you won't need to sign in separately for purchases.

As convenient as it sounds, LG doesn't go into much details about the actual implementation of the new feature. In particular, it doesn't talk much about the security measures being taken to ensure that payment and personal details are kept secret from prying eyes.

The new online payment feature is available on the webOS 3.0 platform which, in turn, powers a wide range of LG TVs, including OLED, Super UHD, and LED Smart TVs.