Google TV… FTW!
May 20, 2010
Day 2 of Google IO and I’m STOKED! I’ve been espousing the advent the convergence of computing/home theatre/home media for a few years now. So much so that friends and family mostly either humour me, ignore me, or… the one’s with some tech savvy… argue that Microsoft tried this over and over again and have failed repeatedly. My response (up ’til now) has been that Microsoft failed not because the vision of tech/livingroom convergence is flawed… but because there hasn’t been the ability to bring this all together seamlessly for the non-tech geek. Apple has tried with AppleTV… and even in Apple circles (read that “fanboys”) it’s acknowledged that AppleTV is a whole lot of cash-suck and not a lot of win for a company that has gotten used to winning with every product they release.
Enter Google! Today’s announcement that Google TV will be out by 4th quarter this year integrated into Sony TVs is a big deal. Google has partnered with Sony, Dish Network, Logitech, Intel, and Best Buy to deliver Google TV capability to the consumer chain. Now, I won’t get into what every facet of this deal means but I will express some hopes…
1) I’d love to see Sony come out with a firmware upgrade for the PS3 that brings Google TV all of us that love the media capabilities of our Playstations.
2) Please don’t leave Canadians out in the cold waiting for this to be available in our country… I don’t expect it to roll out at the same time as in the U.S. but I want to see this integration with Bell ExpressVu (supplied by equipment from Dish Network).
3) Android phones can control the Google TV box (or integrated gear) for searching what you want to watch… if Google knows anything… it’s search!
They also announced easier access to web based content and they aren’t just talking about YouTube (in which they have a very vested interest). This is going to be huge for content providers that aren’t in the main stream media business and I can see what happened with the music industry all over again. Those traditional content providers that insist on clinging to their old business model will not survive… those that adapt to the new convergence of web / new media / tv will prosper. It’s time to choose your sides… but if history has proven anything it’s open source content and technology available to all that always wins over closed content and hardware… think systems that force you to use their software/hardware to watch their content.
I’m looking forward to a new media experience thanks to Google.
If you’d like some info directly from Google check out:
http://www.google.com/tv
I’ve signed up for the notifications and I can’t wait for this to happen fast enough!
