Great leap: Google makes a TV move

Now it has to persuade the TV audience to turn the living room television into the newest on-ramp to the Internet.Google TV, which the company introduced at its annual developer conference here, lets people visit any Web site from their televisions and easily search for programs and Web video without scrolling through unwieldy on-screen TV directories.

The service will be built into high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players made by Sony and a set-top box made by Logitech. It is powered by Google’s Android software, originally developed for smartphones.

The effort is likely to face formidable challenges. Google must persuade television manufacturers other than Sony to use its software, and retailers other than the electronics chain Best Buy to sell the devices. And consumers have demonstrated little interest, in connecting to the Web through their TVs.

Cost may be high
What they have shown is price sensitivity, and the high-powered Intel Atom chips that will be at the heart of devices running Google TV are likely to add to their cost. The companies declined to discuss prices.

Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, appeared on Google’s stage to say Sony would build Google’s software into a high-definition television called the Sony Internet TV, as well as a Blu-ray player.

Stringer was joined on the stage by the chief executives of Best Buy, Adobe, Intel, Dish Networks and Logitech, where they were interviewed about their plans by Eric E Schmidt, Google’s chief executive. Devices running Google TV will also be able to run applications written for Android phones and will feature Google’s Chrome Web browser.
Logitech’s set-top box will allow people to receive Google TV without having to buy a new television set. Many companies have already tried to bridge the gap between the television and the Web. TiVo, Boxee, Roku and Vudu, all make devices that offer a variety of Internet video on the television.

If Google’s effort is successful, it could create problems for traditional cable companies, as more people could look to the wealth of content on the Internet and bypass their cable provider’s profitable video-on-demand offerings.

Google did not talk about its advertising strategy for Google TV, but it could use its formidable data-collection abilities to aim new types of ads at television-watching consumers. One advantage Google believes it has in courting other TV manufacturers is the success of its Android platform for mobiles.

Google executives promoted the notion that Google seemed to have already surpassed its rival Apple in this respect, although Apple still has a far larger base of devices running the iPhone operating system.Apple could invest more in the TV business soon. It would now make sense for Apple to update its product, adding a Blu-ray player, for example.
In an interview, Vic Gundotra, vice president for engineering at Google, used the momentum of Android, a free open-source platform with few rules governing its use, to draw a sharp distinction with the control Apple exerts over devices running the iPhone operating system.

“If you believe that the only way to get a good smartphone is to bet on one man, one device, one carrier and one choice, that is a different model than we believe in,” Gundotra said. “We believe innovation doesn’t come from one man; it comes from all of us.”