Google TV will be unveiled at next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show by TV makers LG and Vizio–joining Sony. Samsung plans to unveil a TV later in the year, though not at the show. Sony was previously the lone TV maker to adopt Google TV.
Google TV allows people to surf the Internet with its Chrome Web browser, search for content across cable boxes and elsewhere and access apps such as Netflix and Pandora.
“I think it’s our hottest-selling TV,” Brian Siegel, Sony TV VP told USA Today.
Google refreshed its Google TV software in October, coming about a year after it first launched to lackluster reviews. The original products on Google TV 1.0 got slammed for clunky navigation. The update aimed to provide easier navigation, among other improvements.
“Since launching the update, we’ve seen our activation rates more than double,” wrote Mickey Kim, Google TV Partnerships, on Google’s blog.
Google did not disclose when consumers would be able to buy the new lines of TVs. Google did say, however, it is working with chipmakers Marvell and MediaTek on Google TV. That means Google, in a bid to bring down the price, is likely ditching the higher-cost Intel processors.
RBR-TVBR observation: The Diffusion Group (TDG) forecasts that the number of US households which will be using OTT/Smart TV video services will grow from 106 million in 2010 to 250 million in 2016. So far, iPTV systems are only offered in the US by AT&T, and, of course, Apple TV and Google TV via a standard broadband connection. So, providers like Comcast and FIOS will be racing to deliver their own versions to the one-stop iPTV living room destination.
