Imagine a TV screen with windows or tabs displaying Monday Night Football and the day’s stock quotes, e-mail and your Facebook profile all available at the same time, with the ability to toggle between them. Google wants to make that vision a reality, partnering with Sony, Logitech and Intel to expand its Internet presence and its Android operating system further into everyday American life with Smart TV.
The search giant will announce its quest to add software to TV sets at its I/O conference in San Francisco on Thursday, which will be attended by 3,000 developers the company hopes will produce content and applications for Smart TV.
The initiative would further Intel’s goal of getting its chips into a larger range of devices, help Sony win back market share it has lost to Samsung and LG Electronics, and help Google generate revenue from targeted ads and content. Google is in the process of acquiring advertising giant AdMob in a bid to kick up its commercial output. Logitech would create peripherals such as keyboards for the effort.
But it’s not an easy road to the bank. The merger of TV and Internet has been slow, with only small steps like Hulu’s vintage TV archive, Apple’s undersold Apple TV set-top box that allows iTunes downloads of shows and movies, Netflix’s movie service via computer or Nintendo’s Wii, and Boxee, which displays web content on plugged-in sets.
“It’s a challenging space,” says Michael Gartenberg, a partner with the technology consulting firm Altimeter Group. “Even Apple calls Apple TV a hobby at this point. Given, however, that consumers are looking at more connected screens, it’s no surprise Google wants to make sure their content, services and, of course, ads are on the TV as well as the PC and phone.”
Eric B. Kim, senior…