Intel and Sony Work With Google on TV Box, Will Run Chrome
Posted on 18. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey in News
The New York Times is reporting that Google has been working with some technology heavyweights to produce a set-top box that will compete in the digital TV market. Intel is said to be offering their Atom processor architecture which is used primarily for mobile computers like netbooks. While its not quite clear what Sony is contributing, the fact that they sell televisions and are a content provider with their Sony Pictures unit make sense for them. In fact, Sony has been trying to integrate digital TV functionality since 2008.
Interestingly, the Time reports that the operating system that will run on the set-top box will be Android. Yet unlike phones, this version of Android will be capable of running the Chrome browser. This is probably in an effort to allow the box to show content from several different mediums – from YouTube to Hulu and other sites that offer digital content, which incidentally is growing by the day as people watch what they want when they want it.
I wrote an item not long ago about Google’s partnership in testing their services with DISH Network – where I compared DISH in the television market as what T-Mobile has been in phones for Google. T-Mobile was the first carrier to adopt Google’s strategy by selling phones that ran on Android. I would expect that this announcement is related to their testing of what will probably give people a better user experience while watching TV.
So, is the box going to be a Sony-labeled product? Maybe, but it’s an interesting choice since Sony traditionally does not sell set-top boxes. With the partnership including Intel, expect to see a box that is basically a computer that uses your television as a display – not only showing you television programs but also allowing you to go to web. In fact, the Times article states that that Google and their partners are also working with Logitech to come up with a remote that has a keyboard somehow included on it.
A keyboard? Are we looking at a set-top device that you actually “point and click”? It’s unknown right now. I think the biggest element of this is that the box will run Android with Chrome, which is an open source platform that offers a lot of flexibility. This could be a boon for app developers, as it would give them a larger audience than even the mobile phone market if cable companies are willing to adopt the technology. My guess is that with DISH Network on board, they may not have a choice if the box becomes a hit.
One Response to “Intel and Sony Work With Google on TV Box, Will Run Chrome”
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Anonymously
02. Apr, 2010
Here is how Google TV really works;
The Logitech part of the effort is a wireless display containing Google chrome browser, you click TV objects and have the related web page display on the wireless display. The wireless display also contains the EPG. The system provides a new advertising model that takes advantage of the environment that provides both the 2 foot and the 10 foot experience. It’s smart and resolves convergence once and for all. This is the mainstream PC/STB of the future and enables Google to control most TV advertising of the future as well as the platform.