alvear.com

A few days ago, I ran across an article that showed off the world’ first Google TV set, made by People of Lava a Swedish firm. It is an Android-based TV that comes with everything available for Android like all of its apps. Of course, it also has all the latest Google properties like YouTube, Weather, and Google Maps.

People of Lava's Scandinavian TV

In addition, People of Lava said they have integrated other TV apps like Twitter and Facebook.  There’s also the full Internet experience via a web browser (using WebKit).

The Google TV comes with a wireless keyboard and pointer mouse, USB, and an Ethernet port to connect to the Internet. (A wireless option is available through a dongle connected to the USB.)

The biggest downside is that it’s not available yet, and there’s no information on when it’s coming. At this point, it seems more like a proof of concept than a real product. Crunch Gear says that the 42″ TV will sell for about $2,500, but I couldn’t find any other pricing info.

Nevertheless this is an important step. Putting Android/Google on the TV may actually work.  Android’s market share in the mobile space is increasing rapidly in the last few months, so that would translate to the TV platform. That means that developers don’t have to code new apps for the TV. Out of the box, Google-enabled TV sets can use Android applications.

All the buzz in the IPTV world now is interactive platforms. Vendors are desperately trying to replicate the success that Apple has had with its iTunes app store.  Many have released their own app store platforms (Accedo, Verizon and others) and other IPTV middleware vendors have begun to open up their APIs so third party developers can start creating apps.

Right now it’s too early to know who will win in the TV app space. There are no standards out there and too many options.