Next year's tablet
Regular HEXUS.channel readers may have noticed a preoccupation with the mobile convergence market over the past year or two. The reason is simply because that's where a lot of the growth and innovation has been. Our mobile focus won't change, but it's increasingly looking like Internet TV will supplant the tablet as the hot product category of next year.
Just as in the mobile space, the two companies leading the charge in CE (consumer electronics) convergence are Apple and Google. Apple has Apple TV (not iTV), which it downplays as a hobby. However, according to some research reported on by Tech Trader Daily, Apple TV is already selling-out in some US stores, and is on track to sell around a million units per quarter.
Apple TV seems essentially to just be a way of enabling people to rent video content from iTunes, but Google's take on Internet TV has broader scope - to open-up the entire Interweb to the TV. Of course this will primarily mean streaming VOD (video on demand) content, but where you get it from will not, in principle, be pre-defined.
These contrasting models are symptomatic of the different business models of these two increasingly competitive companies. Apple seeks to create a captive market with its desirable devices, then milk it as much as possible by controlling the commercial ecosystem around them. Google just wants everyone to be searching for stuff on Google so it can sell ads against the searches.
This means Google has a strong interest in creating a large and diverse ecosystem with its search products at the core. This is what it has done with Android and what it's doing with Google TV. The first partner to break cover and launch a Google product is Swiss peripherals giant Logitech.
The core Logitech Google TV product is Revue, which is a set-top box plus a specialised wireless keyboard (I hope the letters don't rub off the keys as quickly is they did on my keyboard - Ed), compatible with any HDMI TV, designed to be used in series with a cable/satellite box. It contains the Intel Atom CE4100 chip.
"Logitech Revue with Google TV makes it easy for people to use just one controller to find and enjoy content from a variety of sources - programs from TV providers; the entire Web, including Flash-based games; music, photos and videos from their personal library; and a growing selection of apps," said Ashish Arora, VP and GM of Logitech's digital home products group.
