Google TV Love: Buy Affection

January 9, 2012

I am documenting this story, but I do not have confidence that it is 100 percent accurate. The posting appeared in Slashgear and “Google Reportedly Paying Smart TV Vendors to Use Android.” The point of the write up is financial. On Google’s side, if the story is true, distributing some of Google’s cash hoard to consumer product manufacturers is as American as allowing members of the House and Senate to play squash with lobbyists or engage in some stock trading not permitted others.

If this statement is accurate, then we are racing toward lowest possible cost:

Exactly how much Google is paying manufacturers to use Android rather than their own smart TV OS is unknown, though the decision to switch to ARM-based chipsets likely means the actual hardware costs are minimal.

Three observations:

First, buying love works, and it is less messy that “real” love. “Real” love is like “real” consulting provided by failed home economics majors.

Second, in a race for least cost, the winner is the person who finds away around certain hurdles. These may be technical, procedural, financial, or legal. Excitement ahead may trigger memories of Cisco Systems’ adventures with router manufacturing in a far off land.

Third, what if US consumers don’t want lots of applications on a TV. I, for instance, am happy if I can find a current episode of Lizard Lick Towing, a fine example of modern reality television. It reminds me of the spate of predictions from Gartner, Forrester, Ovum, and others about technology. Excellence makes find bed fellows. “Find” equal “search” to me.

Here in the goose command center in Harrod’s Creek, we will be “watching” for news at 11.

Stephen E Arnold, January 9, 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.