Bloomberg says that the impending internet TV services which are being put together fronted by Google, using Intel chips and integrated into Sony TV sets, will be announced at a conference in mid May.
Citing people close to the situation it says that the system will be based on a new variant of the Atom chip and also a new version of Android referred to as Dragonpoint.
This looks little more than Google replacing Yahoo in the 2008 announcements which came from the Intel Developer Forum where a new Atom processor and a widget based software framework from Yahoo promised a new route for the internet, including internet video, to get into TV sets.
What Intel realized was that there was a huge opportunity to extend its architecture into TV sets (and into mobiles – see separate article in this issue) and that someone needed to create a generic video converter chip for integration into DVDs, digital TVs and DVRs for bringing internet held video to TVs. Getting Yahoo onboard was probably the best way of bringing it to the attention of Google, who would not want Yahoo to take a lead on internet TV.
Knowing the new platform code names is not important, but Faultline was one of the first to say that the Intel CE3100 and since then the newer 4100, would dramatically reduce the cost of bringing the internet to TV devices. Of course no internet TV service would be complete without YouTube on it. And given YouTube’s recent announcements that it needed to change the way it is used, so that people could happily spend 4 or 5 hours immersed in its video, then you have a formula for a major partnership. Sony of course has fallen from first to third place in TV manufacture and is looking for a head start on the next generation TV architecture. It still makes the best TVs in our view, but they are often substantially more expensive than Samsung and LG sets. All three manufactures, along with Panasonic, have introduced internet connectivity for TV sets, which adds around $300 to the price of the device.
Sony, Google and Intel are supposed to be showing off the output at a Google event in San Francisco on May 19/20 and it turns out they have also invited Logitech to join the party, to bring on board a full qwerty keyboard which will also work as a TV remote control.
The overall TV offering is expected to offer internet streaming TV services which can entirely replace US pay TV.
Last month Google acquired digital broadcast specialist Episodic, to go with the On2 codec specialist it had already acquired. Episodic delivers live and on-demand video to all kinds of devices, and could serve two key purposes for Google ‘ enhancing YouTube services, especially on mobile devices, and underpinning the push into web TV set-top boxes.
Google wants to build a full blown content platform with open programming interfaces and create a marketplace for TV channels to ride on its service, rather like Apple iTunes, as an extension of the Android Marketplace. Episodic immediately closed down for new customers after the acquisition was completed, in the same way that Apple has ceased Lalas music streaming services this month after it acquired the music streaming service.
Quite clearly both Apple and Google are working flat out to come to market first with their video visions, and Apple is expected to announce something as early as June. Neither seems to feel they can wait long enough to build the entire eco-system, and so have set about buying in the missing components.
Google this year has also acquired a Microsoft Office sharing service DocVerse, photo-editing site Picnik, email specialist reMail, and social networking search firm Aardvark, any of whom may contribute software components to the overall service launch.