Google TV gets app dev track at I/O, speed-up incoming
updated 10:40 pm EST, Tue January 25, 2011
Google IO conference shows Google TV native apps
Google has published a Google I/O development schedule that confirmed it was getting close to enabling native Google TV apps. A track for "Building Android Apps for Google TV" will help coders either write or port apps for the larger screen. Its nature as a preview suggested Google might not necessarily have third-party app support live by the time I/O starts in mid-May, suggesting it might miss the early 2011 target.
In return for the delay, however, a source added on Tuesday that Google TV should get a major increase in speed. The effect was likened to Engadget as being a leap from the now obsolete Android 1.6 on phones to 2.3. Future input would also be streamlined and avoid the bulky input of the current Logitech and Sony peripherals.
The platform is known to have had a rocky start and has been limited by the lack of apps. Google and its partners have never given out Google TV device sales figures. It may have had to delay its partners' TVs both to refine the app platform and to address issues with performance and a lack of content. Apple may so far have gained the upper hand as its cheaper device and ability to avoid content blocks let it sell one million Apple TVs in three months.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2011
Rocky Start?
I'm not that concerned with how the media has reacted to Google TV, but I don't get all the brouhaha surrounding how bad it supposedly is. I've had my Logitech Revue for a few months now and my roommate and I love it, especially for the price that I got it for through work (I work and subscribe to DISH Network). DISH sells the Revue to customers for $179 which easily makes it worth it. And it's the search, overall, that makes the Google TV platform amazing. If I want to find something to watch all I have to do is a search - it will search my DVR recordings and schedule, the guide, the web, Netflix, Amazon VOD, etc. and put what I want to watch right in front of me. It's amazing, and I feel safe in saying that this is the future of TV. And it's only going to get better when the Marketplace arrives.