Today at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, leading industry players announced the development of Google TV -- an open platform that adds the power of the web to the television viewing experience, ushering in a new category of devices for the living room. Intel, Sony, and Logitech, together with Best Buy, DISH Network and Adobe, joined Google on stage to announce their support for Google TV.
Google TV is based on the Android platform and runs the Google Chrome web browser. Users can access all of their usual TV channels as well as a world of Internet and cloud-based information and applications, including rich Adobe Flash-based content -- all from the comfort of their own living room and with the same simplicity as browsing the web. When coupled with the Intel Atom processor CE4100, Intel's latest system-on-a-chip designed specifically for consumer electronics, the new platform will offer home theatre-quality A/V performance. Sony and Logitech said they would be delivering products based on the new Intel Atom processor and running Google TV later this year. While Google TV is designed to work with any TV operator at launch, the user experience will be fully optimized when paired with DISH Network.
The Google TV experience will be complemented by the ability to watch streaming video from leading content platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and YouTube. Google TV will also have the capability to run apps from the Android Market.
To navigate the array of content that will now be available through a single device and on a single screen, Google TV will introduce an integrated search experience to help viewers easily find relevant content across over-the-air and pay-TV channel listings, DVR, and the Internet, as well as a picture-in-picture layout to access multiple windows simultaneously. Google TV will also features an innovative home screen to help viewers quickly organize their favorite content and personalize their TV viewing experience. Some of these features are only available with advanced integration from DISH Network.
Google also announced that the company would soon release a set of TV-specific APIs for web applications, encouraging web developers to begin building unique web applications for use on television sets. Later this year, Google will also release an updated Android SDK, which will support applications built for Google TV.
Google also plans to open source the Google TV platform to help spur innovation in the industry. The long term goal is to collaborate with the entire developer community to help drive entertainment in the living room forward and to introduce the next generation of TV-watching experience.
