MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Upstairs in one of the main buildings at the Googleplex headquarters here, engineers are putting the finishing touches on Google TV, the company's latest attempt to stake out a new territory beyond search ads.
Google's multibillion-dollar ad business put it on the map, and the company has been looking to branch out, with mixed results. The Wave, Buzz and Orkut social-network tools fell flat, but its Android platform brought Google onto the mobile phone in a way. Tech analysts predict Android will overtake BlackBerry and become the dominant smartphone platform by next year.
And now Google has its sights set on the living room with Google TV, a software platform to bring the complete Internet experience to TV sets. It's expected in stores later this month, via new TVs, Blu-ray players from Sony and a set-top box from Logitech.
TALKING TECH VIDEO: An inside look at Google TV
At the beginning of the year, many TV manufacturers announced plans to bring the Internet to their TVs, via a partnership with Yahoo. But while TVs from Panasonic, LG, Vizio and others have smartphone-like apps forNetflix, YouTube, Skype and other favorites, what they don't offer is the complete Web. And that's one point Google aims to pound home in selling Google TV.
"We consider the Internet to be the entire Internet," says Google TV product manager Rishi Chandra. "That's a big difference."
A lot of people watch Web video together at home huddled around a laptop, "a sub-optimal device," he adds. "There's all this great content stuck on your PC and phone, and people want to see it on the best screen, which is the big screen in the living room."
Interacting with apps
The remote control that comes with Google TV devices has a keyboard and a pointing device that navigate you to TV channels and Internet sites.
You can watch a TV show, say Fox's Glee, and call up the website as well at the bottom of the screen, and have both running simultaneously. If you prefer a faster-loading Web experience, you can also opt for apps from Netflix, Pandora, CNBC, Amazon, the National Basketball Association and more.
The Netflix and Pandora apps are very similar to those you see on smartphones, Apple's iPad, TV boxes like Roku and Yahoo's connected TVs. Select a movie from Netflix's collection. Create a radio station on Pandora and see large album art displayed.
The CNBC app, however, is a standout. It allows you to watch the financial channel and also personalize it with your stocks and a collection of CNBC videos from the Web.
Google TV uses the same Android operating system that's used for smartphones. More than 10,000 apps are available for Android, but only a handful of apps will be set for Google TV at launch. However, Google expects "thousands" by next year.
Most Web videos should be easy to watch on the service, since Google TV supports the use of Adobe Flash software, which is used on some 75% of all Web video. The iPad, by comparison, requires a workaround because Apple won't use Flash.
What Google doesn't support — unless you subscribe to Dish Network— are direct tie-ins to easily record shows on your DVR. Beyond Dish, Google hasn't formed alliances with cable and satellite providers. Without access to those program guides, Google TV owners won't be able to use Google to set DVRs. They'll have to find a show in Google, then go to the provider's menu to set the DVR.
Gartner analyst Van Baker says this is a major flaw. "Their vision is sound," he says. "This is where the TV industry needs to go eventually. But the story Google portrays is that they're totally integrated, and that's just not the reality."
Still, James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, thinks the idea of the complete Internet on TV sets, without having to adjust input settings or switch remotes, is going to resonate. He thinks Google has a hit on its hands, one that could sell 10 million units by the end of next year.
Once that happens, the same kind of app development we've seen on the iPhone, iPad and Android devices will get created for Google TV, he says. "These apps will interact with what people watch on TV. Advertisers will start spending money on apps that target shows they're already advertising on."
The way he sees it, an advertiser could have a spot in Fox's Glee, for instance, and also run an ad in an app that interacts with the show.
Google is offering its software platform free to manufacturers, as it does with Android, in the hopes of broadening its advertising base from the Web to TVs. While at first it's working with just Logitech and Sony for 2010, Google's hope is to greatly expand to many manufacturers, Chandra says.
Source:http://www.usatoday.com
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