Google Partners with Sony and Intel to Create Google TV

Microsoft and Apple have been trying to get into your living room for years, with a variety of television-oriented products.

Now Google thinks it can succeed where other computer companies have seen only middling success. The company announced a new set-top box platform here Thursday: Google TV will marry television and the web, so users can search and view both TV and web videos with a single click.

Google TV, which is based on Google’s Android operating system, will have access to Flickr, gaming sites such as Club Penguin, and music sites such as Pandora and Rhapsody. It will combine that with a streaming media interface similar to that offered by companies like Boxee and Roku.

"There are three big limitations with the streaming media devices that exist today," said Rishi Chandra, senior product manager at Google, speaking at the company’s developer conference, Google I/O. "They try to dumb down the web for TV. They are all closed. Many of these devices have to choose between TV and the web."

Google has formed partnerships with Sony, Logitech and Intel to create hardware that will run this "smart TV" Android platform.

The Google TV software will be available on TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes through Best Buy in fall this year. It will be independent of the cable service providers. All devices running the Google TV software will have Wi-Fi and ethernet connectivity, a keyboard and a "pointing device" or a mouse.

Google has also partnered with DirecTV to integrate Google TV into DirecTV’s digital video recorders (DVRs).

Google TV can also be controlled using an Android phone as a remote, says Chandra, and the mobile version of the Android market — Google’s marketplace for Android-compatible apps — will be accessible on Google TV.

[via Wired]