Google TV: Two Views
December 27, 2010
“First Impressions: Google TV Delights” is a positive discussion of Google TV. The story states: “I’m dumbfounded by how good Google TV is right now.” You must read the original write up in Beta News.
For Beta News, Set up did not pose a problem. Integration with various digital content services such as “AT&T U-verse features, the TV and Google TV” worked fine. The interface was fine. The Google search was excellent, and there was content available from Netflix. In short, no problemo.
That is in sharp contrast to the implications about the success and usability of the device in “Google TV Forces Logitech to Delay Revue Set-Top”. The article asserted:
Delays are hitting Logitech’s Revue, a set-top box that some have called an active competitor to the Apple TV. But it’s not Logitech’s fault – rumors are circulating that Google itself has stepped in and asked the company to suspend production, in the hopes that the company can finish tweaking its Google TV software by the time the new expected shipping date of January 2011 rolls around.
Conflicting opinions abut technology products are nothing new. What is interesting is that Google seems to be pushing products into the marketplace and then scrambling to address issues or “explain” that there is no problem.
If there are glitches in the product, search functionality may not be enough to position Google TV as a better option than a competitor’s solution. Assume Google “gets it right” on the second or third try. Does this approach to product development make it even more clear that Google has become more like Microsoft?
I hope that 2011 returns Google to the NASCAR winners’ circle. Ads continue to be Google’s main business and missing out on the rich media revolution may concede time, mind share, and ad revenue to other firms. Apple comes to mind as one competitor who has an ecosystem advantage. But the Netflix momentum cannot be ignored. Then there are dozens of other “real” media companies chasing the pot of gold that seems to be anchored in motion pictures, user created videos, and the avalanche of rich media in digital form.
Will Google TV be another sector in which the assumptions that worked in Web search are not applicable? What happens if Facebook gets into rich media?
I am not a TV oriented person. The success or failure of Google TV means little to me. But TV may be a content domain where Google cannot afford to take a back seat to certain competitors. In my opinion, the methods that worked in Web search may have less traction in the rich media space. Google may have to start January 2011 with a new set of studded snow tires.
Stephen E Arnold, December 27, 2010
Freebie.
Comments
One Response to “Google TV: Two Views”
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
[…] Google TV: Two Views : Beyond Search Read more from Google TV a-positive-discussion, delights, did-not, google tv, how-good, […]