Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

CES 2011: Google TV Sees Delays

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
66,672
36,015



101008-googletv.jpg


The NYTimes reports that Google has asked manufacturers to delay introducing new Google TV products at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. CES 2011 was meant to be a big launch venue for Google TV-based products.
But Google has asked the TV makers to delay their introductions, according to people familiar with the company’s plans, so that it can refine the software, which has received a lukewarm reception.
Click to expand...
Stand alone Google TV set top boxes such as the LogiTech Revue were introduced at $299 and has been met with poor reviews. The Google TV product was seen as a big competitor to Apple's own Apple TV product. Apple has since redesigned the Apple TV to be based on iOS and managed to drop the price to only $99.

At the D8 conference, Steve Jobs was particularly candid about the hurdles that faced all set-top-box manufacturers, and how it was difficult to break into that market:
- On the future of television: "Subsidized set-top boxes have squashed innovation because no one wants to pay for separate boxes...ask TiVo, Roku, us, Google in a few months. The set-top box needs to be torn up and redesigned to get people things they way they want them. And there's no go-to-market strategy for that. With the iPhone, and now the iPad, we could partner with carriers, but television is very balkanized...everything is local.
Click to expand...
Apple continues to describe the Apple TV segment as a "hobby" but with the recent integration of iOS, there have been hopes that Apple will eventually introduce an Apple TV App Store as well.

Article Link: CES 2011: Google TV Sees Delays
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/12/20/ces-2011-google-tv-sees-delays/
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Not surprising. Everything special about the Google TV keeps getting blocked by the old media who aren't able to comprehend the new digital world.
 
I wish Apple offered TV services for Apple TV. I just can't justify paying $100 for something which requires me to pay per episode. And as for the Netflix, nearly every home entertainment device now includes it.

Would be great if they offered TV-channel that I could purchase or subscribe to. I'd cancel my Fios service in a heartbeat.
 
I would buy an Apple TV STB if it did the following things:

1. Connect to iTunes for content
2. Apple TV App Store - So I can download a Plex App
3. VNC to my Mac (Due to #2 probably an app)
4. Give me my local channels
 
At least you have Netflix on AppleTV which is starting to stream TV episodes, something that GoogleTV seems to be be losing every day. Google had hoped that by being managed under Youtube they would see more partnerships with broadcasting companies but it doesn't appear to be helping.
 
Management said:
I would buy an Apple TV STB if it did the following things:

1. Connect to iTunes for content
2. Apple TV App Store - So I can download a Plex App
3. VNC to my Mac (Due to #2 probably an app)
4. Give me my local channels
Click to expand...

Doesn't it do #1?
 
I reckon its delayed until someone does a deal with all those content providers that blocked it. Although with Google's tendency to drop support for things that have potential but loose their interest like Wave perhaps it will just wither away.
 
WiiDSmoker said:
Not surprising. Everything special about the Google TV keeps getting blocked by the old media who aren't able to comprehend the new digital world.
Click to expand...

It's more than that - the 'old media' folks are trying to go to the internet, but they have to move slow and they have to drag advertisers along with them. Today, Hulu et al do not make nearly as much money as broadcast/cable television.

So, efforts to move to the internet faster than the studios (and advertisers in tow) are ready to are met with strict resistance.
 
There is something wrong with the name "google tv". When I hear the word "google" I think of a search engine.

The first impression I get when I think of "Google tv" has more to do with searching for the show you want to watch rather than actually watching the show. Given that my directv system has search capabilities, the idea of an improved search engine on my tv doesn't seem like a deal breaker.

Now that isn't an anti-google sentiment and I do realize google tv is more than what I am describing. But I know google for one thing: a search engine. The name google tv just sounds odd to me. Even knowing google has branched out, I look on this with skepticism. I just see it as a search engine company trying to go beyond their realm of expertise.

I imagine that if you spend more time on the internet and keep up with google products, your perception of the company would be very different than mine. I just point this out to say that google may have some marketing hurdles when it comes to educating a portion of its market about their product. The problem is not likely great enough to cause failure of the product, but it may affect sales to some degree.
 
I don't get the networks blocking the google tv's browser from accessing their content. It really is no different than if I watch it on my Mac. That isn't going to replace TV watching for most people. Watching a lot of shows in full screen on a 20" display is distorted. I can imagine how it would look on 42" or larger.
Maybe I'm off base, but I think the only time anyone watches a show on a network's site is if you missed the episode and didn't record it.

The device is very crippled if it can't access content. Maybe they should partner with the porn industry? Or are they not letting Google make it a porn on demand box either? (Since they are always willing to try new tech out first, hey)
 
Google and Apple are retarded about dealing with TV. Nintendo isn't having problems selling set-top boxes and neither is Sony or Microsoft or any DVD/Blu-Ray players and Netflix is sliding right into those set-top boxes setting themselves up to cherry pick the Apple TV/ Google TV potential business concepts, or at least how they (Apple and Google) want to see the market. Streaming TV is not a business on it's period. Games are a business, physical movie media sales are a business. Streaming TV is part of the internet revolution and people, for the most part, still see streaming as something that should be free because they don't own what they would be paying for.

It's fairly simple from my perspective Apple or Google need to either buy Netflix and abandon making their own TV related hardware or buy Nintendo and/or Sony to actually get into a legitimate set-top box business to package their TV/Film offerings with. There's just really no way around that at this point. The one market where they could do well with what they have now is pay channel series, because people may get Showtime or HBO, but they may want to follow a series that's not on a pay channel they are willing to pay the monthly for, but even that's a significantly pared down market compared to what they're after.

Hell if Apple would buy Sony, Nintendo and SanDisk they build Sony TVs with an Apple TV and a Wii integrated and introduce a new physical media standard for films to compete with Blu-ray on SDXC to pop right into the TV.

They could actually get a virtualization solution and run both of the game systems on top of AppleTV if they wanted, but whatever the case Apple would have a decided advantage over Google in dealing with hardware if they were to make major acquisitions like these.
 
All the major television networks block google TV from watching shows on their site. What can you do when you have an internet enabled TV, and all the TV stations want your product to die so you are stuck watching shows on cable?
 
PeterQVenkman said:
All the major television networks block google TV from watching shows on their site. What can you do when you have an internet enabled TV, and all the TV stations want your product to die so you are stuck watching shows on cable?
Click to expand...

I sometimes compare cable tv companies with religion.
 
I like many things that Google does, but Google TV is a mess. Google's entire approach to living room is fundamentally flawed and the product might be doomed.

There is only one thing I want to do on my TV and that is - watch high-quality video content. I do not want to browse the web on my TV. I do not want to do Twitter or e-mail on it. I do not want to type search terms on some ridiculous 100-button remote with QWERTY keyboard. The UI should be simple and give me an immediate access to Video content with minimal number of remote clicks.

Google TV tries to extend Web to the TV, and that's where they have gone wrong. The hardware costs about $200 more than what the market it saying the media extender should cost (Apple has set the bar here at $99).

Google TV product team needs to fundamentally rethink their device, or it will go the way of the Wave.
 
WiiDSmoker said:
Not surprising. Everything special about the Google TV keeps getting blocked by the old media who aren't able to comprehend the new digital world.
Click to expand...

That has to be the failed comment of the day.
Obviously you don't have a grasp on what is going on here. You think Google should be able to distribute the intellectual content of 3rd parties without question? GTFOOH!!!
For one thing the internet ain't sh**. It is overblown, tedious and saturated to the nth degree. As for anytime programs, then let that be the decision of the people that make, create the content(FOX, CNN, NBC ECT). It's their stuff. HellO!!!
Besides, the networks don't need Google because they already have the Neilson rating folks doing their surveys, sending the info to the advertisers and in the end making that bling bling for days.
So why the hell do they need a middle man like Google? They don't.
Apple TV will be the clear winner after all the smoke has cleared. The pad can stream content to the Apple tv as well as allowing you to surf the net at the same effing time. Simple, compact, done! Period. End of.
 
2992 said:
I know what that means. I'm just finding it offensive in the way he is using it, that's why I wrote in the first place.
Click to expand...

Really, offensive. Its a pretty common term to describe similar situations. People have been using that terminology for exactly that sort of thing for 20 years.
 
pooprscooper said:
At least you have Netflix on AppleTV which is starting to stream TV episodes, something that GoogleTV seems to be be losing every day. Google had hoped that by being managed under Youtube they would see more partnerships with broadcasting companies but it doesn't appear to be helping.
Click to expand...

Having netflix support is 100% pointless outside the US. So for the rest of the world (I.E the bigger marker) the Apple TV is currently effectively just a rental club with a hefty 'start-up' fee (the actual hardware).

Google TV was and still is set to be much better. With all respect to Apple, iOS is designed for MOBILE PHONES not televisions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back