Google TV Brings It Home

If Google has its way, our TVs will not only provide regular channel programming but offer options such as surfing Web sites, watching videos or listening to music. Computers are clearly transitioning from the home office to the living room and Google, the online search leader, is driving this shift by launching Google TV in September.

Google recently announced it’s working with partners Sony and Logitech to integrate Google TV inside television, Blu-ray players and companion boxes. This new product is planned for sale in September and will be initially introduced by Best Buy stores in the United States. The Internet giant is expected to offer the same product category internationally in 2011.

“With the Web, finding and accessing interesting content is fast and often as easy as a search, according to a statement by Google. “But the Web still lacks many of the great features and the high-quality viewing experience that TV offers. So that got us thinking … what if we helped people experience the best TV and the best Web in one seamless experience?”

Google TV follows the not-so-successful attempts of Apple and Microsoft to bring the Internet to television with Apple TV and MSN TV. However, Google believes there is an enormous market opportunity since there are over 4 billion people around the world watching TV.

For seamless viewing, a relatively fast connection around 3 MB per second is required. But since 3G technology has been evolving rapidly, this should not pose much of a problem, especially if Google TV is delayed until 2011. The browser for Google TV is simply the Linux version of Google Chrome. The user interface will be modified for TV so a Web site designed for a smaller monitor can display in a larger format for television.

Android software also will be used to power Google TV. With the browser built in, Google plans to help us to access to our favorite Web sites and move easily between TV and the Internet. Television will become a photo slide show viewer, a gaming utility, a music player, a home theater, and much more.

Google TV will use a search engine to accommodate a fast and easy way to navigate TV channels, Web sites, apps, shows and movies.

For example, if you know which show you want to watch, a search engine can help you find it on the Web or TV channel. One also can browse using a standard programming guide, your DVR, or your Google TV home screen. Since Google TV is built on open platforms, like Android and Google Chrome, these features are just a fraction of what Google TV can do, according to a Google blog.

“In our announcement at Google I/O (in San Francisco), we challenged TV Web developers to start coming up with the next great Web and Android apps designed specifically for the TV experience. Developers can start optimizing their Web sites,” Google says.

Google has been working on Google TV for over two years, but analysts are not exactly “gung-ho’’ about Google TV.

The space is very competitive. For instance, Samsung, LG and Panasonic outsell Sony (Google’s TV partner) in the LCD TV space and they all have their own Internet protocol TV solutions and partners. LG partnered with DivX earlier this year to bring DivX TV to its Blu-ray players. Samsung and Yahoo have partnered with (Internet)@TV, and Panasonic created its Viera Cast system.

Yet other analysts say that with the exception of the standalone Web browser, Google TV is very similar to the latest version of TiVo.

Features like viewing photos, streaming music and searching for upcoming programming were possible as early as 2003. Moreover, the viewer could view content from Amazon Video-On Demand, YouTube and Netflix in 2007.

Further, there are competing box products, such as Boxee, PopBox and Roku. Boxee, for example, has established a base of users via its computer and Apple TV platform. Boxee doesn’t integrate into the live TV experience like Google TV, but it supports third-party apps, does regular Web browsing and links to existing media libraries. Cable companies also will continue to pose serious competition.

Apple and Microsoft missed the mark in their efforts to link computers with TV. To this day, Apple continues to sell the Apple TV product but in small numbers. The original Web TV was purchased by Microsoft and rebranded as MSN TV. Microsoft continues to support existing customers but no longer offers the hardware.

Time will tell, but since Google has such a strong presence as a search engine (an estimated 65 percent share of the browser market, leaving Yahoo and Bing well behind), it is conceivable Google TV along with its Android operating system may gain traction quickly.

This post is by TechMan, WMB co-author who blogs about trends, issues and ideas affecting business, industry, technology and consumers.