South Koreas Samsung and LG on Thursday launched rival smartwatches powered by Googles new software as they jostle to lead an increasingly competitive market for wearable devices seen as the mobile industrys next growth booster. Samsungs Gear Live and LGs G Watch — both powered by Android Wear — are the first devices to adopt the new Google software specifically designed for wearables. G Watch — LGs first smartwatch — is also equipped with Googles voice recognition service and can perform simple tasks including checking email, sending text messages and carrying out an online search at users voice command. Samsung and LG are the worlds top and fourth-largest smartphone maker, respectively.