If all goes according to plan, some 3,000 developers will be getting a glimpse of the much-anticipated Google TV, the search giant's Android-based push into the STB and OTT market, at Google's I/O conference in San Francisco May 19 and 20, the Wall Street Journal reports. Google is rumored to be entering the market with support from partners Sony, Logitech and Intel, looking to open STBs to over-the-top delivery of online video and other web content.
Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported Sony would use the conference to roll out a line of flatscreens with a newly spun version of Google's Android OS--named Dragonpoint--and a revamped version of Intel's Atom chip onboard. Logitech is working on a UI that would include remote controls and a keyboard.
The partnership brings some of the most powerful players in the tech industry into a game that so far has been the milieu of smaller, venture-backed companies that were hoping to carve out niche's for themselves as online video delivery matured. In March, early reports said Google already had developed its set-top box prototype and that it was in the testing process.
Google's entry into the market brings with it significant clout--both financial and technical--that could alter the perceptions, and adoption, of over-the-top delivery. Setting itself up as the open platform for online video at the television will allow it to get an early-and big-foot into the door of an ad market that's likely to blossom with adoption of OTT by consumers.
For more:
- see this Wall Street Journal article
Related articles:
Google TV changes the game for TV Everywhere, STB platers, consumers
Report: Online video success forces strategic shift in cable, IPTV industry
FCC official: Cable should embrace OTT… or lose its dominance
Game consoles increasingly taking consumers to over-the-top online video
Canadians turn to online video from Pay TV