LG Electronics has opened up the new LG G5, inviting developers to develop apps and hardware compatible with the new LG G5 smartphone. The company will host its fourth annual LG Developer Event on April 15 in San Francisco and has already launched its new software development kit (SDK) and hardware development kit (HDK).

To help developers monetize the LG G5 companion devices they create, LG will soon be launching a new market place (WWW.LGFriends.com) as well. The online destination will further support developers, allowing them to sell their compatible products and content directly to consumers.

"The potential of the industry changing LG G5 and the concept of Friends are limitless. Now we want to give everyone a chance to apply their talent and imagination in developing their own apps and Friends for the LG G5," said Dr. Ramchan Woo, Vice President, Smartphone Product Planning at LG Electronics. "We believe that by giving developers the same tools that inspired us from LG G5's inception, we're going to see innovations ranging from toys to medical tools to things we haven't even thought of ourselves."

The Friday evening event will be emceed by Mario Tapia - mobile industry pundit - and will include keynote presentations from LG executives involved in LG G5's product development, SDK and HDK partners, technical demonstrations and breakout sessions. Developers will also learn how to create their own camera control apps for the new LG 360 CAM and LG 360 VR viewer and also learn more about Google's Open Spherical Camera API.

Registration is now open on a first-come, first-serve basis.