KOMPAS.com - Google and Intel have teamed up with Sony to develop a platform called Google TV to bring the web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes. The move is an effort by Google and Intel to extend their dominance of computing to television, an arena where they have little sway.
For Sony, which has struggled to retain a pricing and technological advantage in the competitive TV hardware market, the partnership is an effort to tackle competitors.
The partners envision technology that will make it as easy for TV users to navigate web applications, such as Twitter and the Picasa photo site, as it is to change the channel.
Some existing TVs and set-top boxes offer access to web content, but the choice of sites is limited. Google intends to open its TV platform, which is based on its Android operating system for smartphones, to software developers.
The company hopes the move will spur the same outpouring of creativity that consumers have seen in applications for mobile phones. Google is expected to deliver a tool kit to outside programmers within the next couple of months, and products based on the software could appear as soon as July or August.
The three companies have approached Logitech, which specialises in remote controls and computer speakers, for peripheral devices, including a remote with a tiny keyboard.
Spokesmen for Google, Intel and Logitech declined to comment. The project is understood to have been under way for several months, but a Sony spokesman said he was not familiar with it.
Jacob Hsu, chief executive of Symbio, a contract-engineering firm that does work for consumer electronics companies, said there was rising interest in set-top box technology among the traditional computing firms. "The boxes are just getting more and more powerful, so there's more you can do with them," he said.
For Google, the project is a pre-emptive move to get a foothold in the living room as more consumers start exploring ways to bring web content to their TV sets. Google wants to aggressively ensure that its services, in particular its search and advertising systems, play a central role.
"Google wants to be everywhere the internet is so they can put ads there," said one of the people with knowledge of the project.
The TV technology runs on Intel's Atom chips and Google has built a prototype set-top box, but the technology may be incorporated directly into TVs or other devices.
The Google TV software will present users with a new interface for TVs that lets them perform internet functions like search while also pulling down web programming such as YouTube videos or TV shows from Hulu.com.
The technology will also allow downloadable web applications, such as games and social networks, to run on the devices.
Google's efforts to break into TV advertising date back three years. Through a program called Google TV Ads, the company sells advertising on a handful of satellite and small cable TV systems, as well as some cable networks.
Google says thousands of advertisers have signed up for the program, but analysts say they believe the amount of revenue generated is too small to have a significant impact on Google's overall business.
