LG Electronics, the world’s second biggest TV maker, will launch Internet-enabled TV based on Google’s platform in the United States in May. The South Korean firm is after a share of the emerging Internet TV market, a senior LG executive said today.

The move is no doubt a response to the threat of Apple’s fully-fledged TV product that should be unveiled later this year, or early next year.

Immediately we thought about YouTube’s plan to make the YouTube platform the go-to place for music, as well as NBC’s plan to live-stream the entire Olympics for free.

Ro Seogho, executive vice president of LG’s TV business unit, told journalists:

Production of Google TVs will start from May 17 from our factory in Mexico and U.S. consumers will be able to buy the product from the week of May 21.

As expected, Google TV allows viewers to access Google services such as searches, YouTube videos, and everything they’d normally do with their Google account.

Ro also said LG would review sales performance in the US market before deciding whether to take the product to Europe and Asia.

Internet TV is still a relatively new concept, but you might enjoy 2oceansVibe’s “The Compound”, which we recorded last year about life around the 2oceansVibe Media Compound.

Google’s own previous model, unveiled in 2010, failed to catch on with consumers, but if firms like Apple and Samsung are getting involved, it seems silly to be left behind.

Google’s problem was due to a lack of web content, or support from hardware manufacturers, but Android, and LG’s commitment, should change that.

Soon, Internet-enabled TV’s will be commonplace, and LG plans to fit around 60 per cent of its TV’s with its own NetCast platform.

The platform will allow viewers access to the Internet, social networking, as well as online gaming. LG also plans to develop its own applications for the product.

[Source: Reuters]