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Google TV set to be a CES non-starter

by Scott Bicheno on 20 December 2010, 10:05

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

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Revised schedule

Internet TV looks set to be one of the predominant themes of the upcoming CES 2011 tech show, but what would probably have been the centrepiece now looks like being a decidedly muted affair.

Back in May Google officially launched Google TV amid much fanfare and mutual back-slapping with its ecosystem of hardware partners, which included Intel, Sony and Logitech. No longer were we going to be constrained by archaic concepts like schedules and programme guides; with full Google search functionality on our TVs we would be able to watch what we want, when we want, streamed over the web.

That's still the vision, but the intervening half-year has not seen Google TV acquire the momentum Google and its partners had hoped. Reviews have been tepid, the public sceptical and sales subdued. To some extent this is not unexpected. In comparison to Apple TV, which is simply an appliance for renting content via iTunes, Google TV is a complex, nebulous and expensive proposition.

For years it's been considered regrettable, bordering on obscene, that all the groovy catch-up TV and social video stuff we can access on our PCs is not available via the main domestic entertainment hub. But this is as much a user behaviour as a technology thing. We're used to being more passive when sat on our sofas, and modern remote controls are taxing enough - with all their buttons and choices - without introducing keyboards and mice into the mix.

But as the NYT reports, Google has revealed a major Achilles Heel: partner management. Google search via a PC is partner agnostic; end-users just use it. But Google TV requires a special hardware platform. This means Google not only needs them to play ball as its platform evolves, it also means they're beholden to Google's schedule.

That appears to be what has happened with regard to CES. Google has decided Google TV has not got to the point that it's ready to be demonstrated, live, at an event replete with influential reporters and experts. So it has reportedly asked its expanded hardware partner ecosystem to hold fire at CES, which must put a serious dent in their plans for the show.

Once more we're drawn to contrast Google's approach - of launching a product and then effectively conducting a public beta - with Apple's of launching a complete product. In the case of TV this has led to a far more limited offering from Apple, but it works. Google should be applauded for its vision and ambition, but inevitably that will mean teething problems.

Another manifestation of this approach, and Google's relative inexperience in partner management, is the lack of uptake from the major US TV networks (Google TV is a US-only product right now). The search giant will have been hoping that extensive uptake of the platform will have strengthened its negotiating position with content providers, but that hasn't happened and now it's in a Catch 22 situation where limited content equals disappointed end-users, which equals limited content.

Talking to companies like Rovi recently, we still believe web-enabled TV - where scheduled, time-shift, on-demand and web-based video - are all easily accessed via a remote control, is the future. But as the Google TV experience is demonstrating once more, this major technology frontier remains untamed for good reason.

 



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