Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) didn't have a lot of success with its first Google TV launch, a product, one executive told FierceOnlineVideo recently, that really should have stayed in the lab.
Its struggles, consequently, have hurt the uptake of Google TV 2.0. But the new platform is more robust and, not coincidentally, also has access to more content--the results of Google's increasingly successful efforts to make friends with Hollywood studios. Both should make it more appealing to consumers.
Google, with the help of consumer electronics manufacturer LG, could start to see its revamped Android-based TV platform gain a little momentum later this month when LG rolls out a pair of smart TVs based on the updated Google TV platform.
The Korean CE company in January demoed a set with Google TV at CES 2012. The company, which is the world's second biggest television maker, will introduce a 47-inch set priced at $1,699, and a 55-vertical-inch model that will retail for $2,299, according to paidContent. Both also are 3D-ready and include a gesture remote control and a QWERTY keyboard. The two should be joined later this year by sets from Samsung, Vizio and Sony.
Sony and Logitech in 2010 partnered with Google to launch the first iteration of Google TV that failed--miserably--to gain traction with consumers. In fact, Google reportedly asked Samsung, Toshiba and Vizio, all of which were rumored to have been building TVs based on the software, to abort their rollout at CES 2011.
Google 2.0 was released in October, open to Android developers and with a new interface.
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