Quote to Note: Google TV Be or Not Be, That Is the Question
July 30, 2011
TVs charms do not work for me. I enjoy a great quote when I spot one. The story “Who Killed Google TV?” suggested that Google TV was dead. Maybe I just don’t understand modern lingo. Anyway the story recounts the facts that Logitech lost lots of money, the CEO left the company, and that returns of Google TV units now exceed the sale of Google TV units. There are some intersting factoids and an observation that Logitech is sticking with the Google. This makes sense becausse Microsoft is not exactly a potential partner for the next Mouse Ball.
So the title says “killed” but the quote to note was:
Google TV really isn’t dead…
Do I have observations? You bet:
First, Google is a search company that sells advertising. The Google TV thing, like Web Accelerator and the first Google phone store, are vehicles to pump up advertising. What happened to search? Er, it’s there but the donkey does not have the oomph to pull the product.
Second, the TV world is different from the online ad world and different from what it was a year ago. Google is trying to be like Apple along with Amazon and others who see big dollars. Brutal bandwidth costs and cracking the consumer walnut are going to break some teeth.
Third, Google has 30,000 employees and seems to be the company that a Morgan, Rockefeller, and Carnegie would have created at a summer business school symposium. The challenge is to generate a winner that makes the search and online ad model work. I think this might be difficlult.
As for the Google TV, a $99 price won’t make much difference. Will Google TV kill Logitech? I don’t know. Might.
Stephen E Arnold, July 30, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
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