Google TV cometh [the competition]
Apple just launched the second edition of Apple TV, Microsoft has Media Center, and now it's Google's turn with Google TV. Logitech launches their vision soon, as does Sony, so once again it's Apple's integrated model against Google's de-coupled software, and only consumer choice can win.
To make their case for your living room eyeballs, Google has set up a new http://www.google.com/TV/ site, and it looks... well, I can't tell because it's in Flash but here's the friendlier version and that looks great. While Apple hasn't (yet?) seen fit to give us apps (or a browser) on our iOS Apple TV's, the Android-based Google TV has them out the gate. (Though like every similar service, there's likely to be much less available outside the US.)
This is serious competition from a serious competitor, is Apple TV 2010 enough for now or does Apple have to iterate faster now?
There are 44 comments. Add yours.
First!
Looks promising.
I think the tech market is going to crash. Too many of these companies are just copying each others ideas. Seems like overcapacity.
Why does it say "Sony Internet TV is a trademark of Sony, Inc"???
Not clear on whether ggTV will run on Android phones, PCs, or if they're relying on Samsung and others to make devices for it...
The real question is whether people really want internet on their TV.
I would say that the average person doesn't, but maybe Google can market it differently and convince them otherwise.
WOW - I think Google hit the mark. I was very excited for the new Apple TV, but looking at the Google TV - it basically gives us everything we want! It has everything that people have been complaining Apple TV doesn't have.
Apple may have wanted to wait until Google TV launched before it released Apple TV. I have a feeling their scrambling in Cupertino!
Why would the tech market crash when you have lots of competition. Companies that fail to deliver a competitive product may crash but the whole market isn't going to crash. [sarcasm]OMG, there are to many to chose from, I'm just going to stick with my 18in tube.[/sarcasm]
Yawn
Apple isn't trying to do the same thing as Google...yet anyways. I am kind of considering getting both. GTV on input one tied in with Dish for guide/DVR search and other useful features, and ATV on input two for movies, tv rentals, and hopefully apps and games one day.
Does this give the price of a Google TV set top box? That's the important variable that no one seems to be thinking about. Of course Google TV has more capabilities than Apple TV, but it's also unlikely to be $99. Unless it is, you're comparing apples (npi) and oranges.
Couldn't help but knock Flash, eh? lmbo.
The model Google is using is by going after OEM hardware makers. So when you need a new TV, Sony wants you to buy one that has GoogleTV built in. As a result, you wouldn't spend any more money. If you want to use your existing equipment, Logitec is offering a device to give you the same experience. Interesting someone mentioned MediaCenter by Microsoft. The biggest problem with that is one has to plug it into their laptop/PC. The Apple/Google approach is more entertainment centric. But it would be interesting to see what 3 different approaches to the same concept would look like.
I like it, best of all it's free
It's all about the Benjamin's baby.
@speedracer99
Because it's a google advertisement with a Sony tv...
Makes Apple initial offering(really second) look laughable.
Price?
The key for me is the APPS.
Apple blew it by not opening up the AppleTv to apps. They cannot compete with GoogleTv imo.
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It seems like cool technology, but from what I have read you need to have equipment (Cable/Satellite/DVR, etc) that specifically supports Google TV to get the most out of it and I thought there was a rumor that the Logitech box was going to be around $300, both of which make me think this is not going to be a mass market success.
It's pretty obvious that Google TV's offering is better than Apple TV ... I thought Apple TV would be very IOS like but it didn't turn out to be... I thought it would a mini Ipad for your TV with Cable/TV integration... I 'm thinking Apple will come out with a stronger Apple TV product next year.. but for now Apple TV is not anything worth buying.
@Frank Why get both when you can get the same offerings from GoogleTV through third party apps like Netflix or Amazon.. the only thing Apple is doing differently is teh $.99 rental fee..
Quite frankly, I don't see this being a big seller for a number of reasons.
First, it has no built in storage, but it can drive your cable/sat DVR to record stuff for you. But those units don't need the help.
Second it does allow search for programming (but again, your cable/sat STB has that too.
Then there is the web based TV that it can feed you. Fine if you want to watch missed episodes of your favorite shows, on the very few sources available for that.
But --- Even Cable providers are capping internet downloads these days.
So you can't expect to do all your TV watching via internet TV, unless you don't watch much at all.
If everybody turned to internet sources for even half their TV there is simply not enough bandwidth to handle it. These things can't use multicast, so that means every single show is a unicast feed to your device. Router meltdown. ISP surcharges.
Then there is the issue of all the apps and the twitter and the the IM clients on the TV. Great for a single person. But can you imagine sitting down with the family to watch something and have the twitter app spewing airhead daughter's friends OMGs and LOLs?
This stuff wants to go to your pocket device, or you iPad/Android tablet, NOT to the family 60 inch.
Fighting the family for time to play your Angry Birds on the big screen seems like a huge hassle.
So single people seem to be the target of this level of web integration. Not the family. And wouldn't said single person rather have a iPad/Tablet of their own, and portable, rather than tied to a TV at home?
Google's offering is far more powerful and far more flexible than Apple's, but that is by both companies' design. The GoogleTV/AppleTV difference just illustrates the difference in strategies between the two companies.
AppleTV may no longer be a "hobby," but it is modest. It does a few things, and a few things only. In traditional Apple fashion, they are banking they can do those few things well enough that the feature deficit will be irrelevant. As business insider put it a few months ago, AppleTV is just trying to take one of the extra inputs on your TV. If they succeed there, input 2 will be a foothold for Apple to creep into more of the living room, as they add more features incrementally.
GoogleTV, on the other hand, tackles the whole problem space at once. It swings for the fences, aiming to take the primary input on your TV. GoogleTV can do some things AppleTV cannot yet, and some things AppleTV will never be able to do. This is an all-or-nothing shot for them. Taking over the primary input is a huge challenge -- with Google accepting engineering and UI burdens far more difficult than Apple set for themselves. If they can pull it off, Google will be firmly in the driver's seat, eclipsing not only AppleTV but other set-top providers as well. If their integration or controls are subpar, it will be hard for them to recover.
Better? Worse? Nah...for now, just different approaches. When people can actually buy the GoogleTV and run it through its paces, that will be the time for straight-up comparisons.
How much will it be?
It's hard to claim that Google TV is a competitor to ATV, since they're not very similar. The apps are not the important thing about Google TV; it's the integration of TV content with search and internet content. The apps on Google TV are useful because you don't have to stop watching TV to get information from the internet, as well as providing a secondary source of content. The way that internet-capable TVs work now, you need to switch out of TV mode to use the internet-capable mode, and the two modes don't work together. ATV, on the other hand, is a way to integrate the TV with Apple's content delivery system and portable devices; if you want to extent your utilization of Apple products and content to your TV, you get an ATV. The difference is that Google doesn't deliver or sell content on its own. In general, Apple doesn't support content delivery outside of its own system, other than CDs: there is no Apple branded TV-tuner, BR-disc player, etc. In the end, Google TV moves in the right direction that consumers ultimately want: a smarter TV with integrated content and information from the internet, that works with whatever source of TV content we already use. Whether and to what extent Google TV will actually deliver this vision of internet-TV integration is a real question. Given the nature of the two products, one could easily be interested in getting both of them.
Meh. Vaporware. By the time it becomes reality, Apple TV could be doing the same stuff. I don't think people want smarter TVs. The intellegence should be in a separate device. Who wants to have to buy a new TV every time their old TV won't support the next OS upgrade? Portable devices need integrated display and processing, but stationary systems (e.g. home theaters) should be componentized.
I agree with Webvex. No one really wants Apps are on their TV, maybe Pandora, Hulu, and Netflix but everything else is useless. And people already have Wii, X360, and PS3 for entertainment purposes. Apple TV seems like a smarter idea and if you want to watch other videos not from YouTube hopefully Apple allows Hulu or Pandora to support AirPlay. And then that solves most peoples problems. Apple really needs to hit a homerun with AirPlay, it's their make or break.
Where I see this succeeding set top boxes like ATV and Boxee is that it gives you options on how to do it.
As another poster said...lets say you're in the market for a new tv (lets pretend GTV is already out and selling). You have 2 options.
1.) Get a box (GTV, ATV, Boxee, Roku) and a new TV. Adding more inputs, connections, blah blah blah. Some people don't mind...some people hate even having a credit card size addition in their living room.
2.) You just get a TV with GTV built right in. No extra equipment, remotes, cables. Nothing.
By giving that kind of choice...it lets you control how you want to introduce the internet into your tv.
But as I always say...Internet TV's have never really penetrated mass markets. So this is going to be an uphill battle for all companies. I look forward to seeing it though.
Webvex has won for dumbest statement of the week, not don't worry, Andrew quickly provided you some stiff competition, and the week is still early. Ironically people had to buy a new Apple TV because their old one wouldn't support the newest OS. Google TV is being built into standalone devices. Andrew if Apple had rolled out apps you would claim it was the second coming. The same argument about people already having gaming consoles and not needing GTV can just as easily be applied to the need for ATV.
You could call me a fanboy and it would not hurt my feelings in the least. All the same I don't really get where apps on my TV will have value unless we're talking a game center (XBOX?) or alternatives to stream media (AirVideo-like app that I use all the time on the iPad)
I use my iPad for apps and watch my TV. TV is for.. well.. Tv shows and movies. I love tech but don't get off on a lot of the crap I've seen on newer TVs like widgets, news etc.
I just don't know if either google or Apple is headed in the right direction here. Most people commenting don't represent the average population either, which won't give a crap if it isn't easy to use.
As such, nod goes to Apple for making it just a hobbie and keeping it simple for the average consumer. Who cares if the 100 or so uber geeks don't want one because it doesn't stream their stolen gay porn without conversion first.
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It's interesting to note that AppleTV has practically all the capabilities to do whatever Google claims GTV will do.
However, Apple doesn't release vaporware - Apple aims for the best "experience" (whatever it may on a particular product).
For example, Apple may enable apps on AppleTV tomorrow via a firmware upgrade but they will not do it or say about it until this feature is well thought out (its not just a matter of "enabling" it).
Google, on the other hand, says (quoting Engadget): "ordinary Android apps don't yet work, but the company reiterated that it's on track to switch the feature on by early 2011".
Will ordinary apps look good on HDTV? What changes have to be made? What is the audience? How the apps will be controlled? What the user experience will be? Etc. etc.
You can bet if/when Apple announces the apps on ATV it will be the best experience around - not just "yeah, we have apps".
you steve job penis suckers are to much.. give props to other companies, i own multi apple devices dont get me wrong they are fun, but stop the bashing please. give props where props are due its a good idea and it will make apple step it up.. good job google
@Mav
Um, no. No it doesn't
Apparently one obstacle Google TV will have to overcome is that even if people read about it, they have no idea what it does.
I have a new Mac Mini hooked up to my Sony HDTV. That is the best combo, IMO. I can use Airmouse app on my iPhone to completely control my Mini. Had 4 college fball games playing at once thru ESPN3. Can't beat it.
And have Logitech camera connected thru Mini. That, along with iCam iPhone app, provide a nice videocam/surveillance solution.
@TopDog I totally agree with you. Well done google.
I think it's really cool. Were coming to an age now where desktops are phasing out, moving into tablets and laptops (we already have).
And now were really phasing desktops out by using tvs
I'm glad both Apple and Google are offering this. Personally I'm sick of the cable/satellite companies charging me to watch commercials. As Google put it in earlier presentations: everything is one the internet. ABC, NBC, CBS all rebroadcast shows online with minimal commercials (which in the end is better than TiVo-ing the program). What I can't get directly from them I supplement via Hulu and NetFlix. If Google can pull off its deal with Hollywood and YouTube, that gives more options. Explain to me again why I need to pay Dish/DirecTV/cable for TV again? Even Apple's $99 fee or Logitec's $150 - $300 one-time price is better than cable.
Looks good hope its not running android. I hate that choppy laggy os.
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