In yet another move that pits Google against a one-time close ally, the search giant is rolling out a competitor to Apple TV. Given Google’s ownership of YouTube, it seemed only a matter of time before the company would experiment with a web-based television service.
Google is working to bridge the gap between phones and computers that display web videos and television. With more consumers spending more time watching videos on devices other than televisions — but with web videos still lacking the user-friendly features TV offers — Google smells opportunity.
Google’s solution is called (what else?) Google TV. If you can imagine turning on the TV and getting all the channels and shows you normally watch and all of the web sites you browse all day, you’ve just imagined what Google is promising with its new TV service.
Leveraging TV Search
Salahuddin Choudhary, Google TV product manager, revealed part of the new product offering’s secret sauce: Google Chrome. With the browser built into the TV experience, he said, you can move between television and the web at will. That, he said, opens up the TV from a few hundred channels to millions of channels across both television and the web.
Google is also leveraging its search prowess in the new product. In describing how Google TV search capabilities work, Choudhary offered an example of the consumer who already knows what channel to watch. In that case, the user would type in the name and Google TV goes there. Choudhary also offered a few more scenarios.
“Want to check out that funny YouTube video on your 48-inch flat screen? It’s just a quick search away. If you know what you want to watch, but you’re not sure where to find it, just type in what you’re looking for and Google TV will help you find…