14 DAY TRIAL // Google is as hungry as ever for new markets, perhaps part of the reason behind its continued success, and now we have new reports of its move into web-enabled TVs and set-top boxes. The company is apparently working on a new project, tentatively but fittingly dubbed Google TV, to get its mobile operating system, Android, into TV sets and set-top boxes with the goal of making navigating web content and services on TVs a viable option.
Google is working with several partners on the hardware side, notably Intel and Sony, to develop the platform that the company hopes will end up in as many devices as possible. Sony is a big player in the TV hardware market and the platform would provide it with a competitive advantage, though it looks like Google TV will be an open platform available to other players as well.
Intel is probably looking to get a foothold in the embedded and consumer-electronics market with its Atom line of inexpensive processors or maybe other dedicated hardware. The chip maker tried to enter the market via another avenue in the past with Intel Viiv, the ill-fated media PC platform.
Finally, Logitech has been tasked with making peripherals for the Google TV platform like a web-friendly remote control with a full keyboard. The manufacturer has plenty of expertise making peripherals for PCs. Google is also expected to open up the platform for outside developers, a usual move from the company that releases Android under an open-source license and encourages manufacturers to use it. A toolkit for Google TV is expected within a few months and the first devices may hit the retail channel as early as summer 2010. None of the companies involved is talking at this point, but several publications have independently verified the rumor with people in the know.
Google TV is aimed at bringing online content, things like Twitter and Google Picasa are listed as examples, to the TV, but in a way that is suited for the platform. Web-enabled TVs are coming from most manufacturers these days, but they haven't proven really popular for the consumers. Google is also said to be working with satellite TV provider Dish Network on Android-powered devices and it can be assumed that they will use the Google TV platform or something similar. For Google, the draw is evident, more people online means more money from advertising. It's the same strategy it employed with mobile devices and its Android platform, apparently with a great deal of success.