ByteDance, the owner of the global hit short video app TikTok, unveiled a collaboration with Shenzhen-based electronics giant Konka Group Co, which is introducing a new smart television series powered by the Chinese tech unicorn’s MEyou operating system.
Co-developed with Konka, MEyou OS marks ByteDance’s initial foray into the market for large-screen operating software, offering a platform that has a more intuitive search function, supports gesture control, and enables content from several devices to be shown simultaneously on a single TV.
For example, a family can watch a drama or sports program, while shopping online on the margin via split-screen. One family member can even play a video game on the TV, while another watches yoga exercises.
MEyou OS is expected to help revive the relevance of large TV screens in an era when smartphones, tablets and personal computer screens have gained more attention because of people’s increased need to work and study from home as part of precautions against Covid-19, according to Zou Wei, director of ByteDance’s Smartisan OS unit.
The ByteDance collaboration also comes at a time when Konka, once China’s largest TV maker from 2003 to 2007, continues to struggle in a highly competitive domestic TV market, where it has seen annual demand steadily decline.
Overall TV sales in China, the industry’s biggest market, last year plunged 13.8 percent from 2020 to 38 million units, the lowest volume recorded in 12 years, according to Beijing-based research firm All View Cloud.
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