Google TV

There are lots of things to love about Google. Their technology is hands down the best in its field. They don't charge consumers for use. Their inventions and innovations have literally transformed how we use the internet. Now they're focusing on other technologies.

I've already written about Android, today I'm looking at Google TV. Speaking on the Apple TV back in June, Steve Jobs stated:

"The TV is going to lose until there's a better--until there's a viable--go to market strategy. Otherwise you're just making another Tivo. It's not a problem with technology, not a problem with vision, it's a fundamental go to market problem."

Asked if it made sense to partner with a major cable company the way Apple partnered with AT&T to bring the iPhone to market, Jobs said, "Well then you run into another problem. Which is: there isn't a cable operator that's national. There's a bunch of cable operators. 

"And then it not like there's a GSM standard where you build a phone for the US and it also works in all these other countries. No, every single country has different standards, different government approvals, it's very… Tower of Bableish. No, balkanized."

Jobs concluded by saying "I'm sure smarter people than us will figure this out, but that's why we say Apple TV a hobby; that's why we use that phrase." 

 Going against Jobs' gloomy outlook for the TV industry, google is trying to prove itself the "smarter people" with their new release. 

Google is releasing Google TV both as a set top box and as a built in standalone for TV software. It's like Android handsets in many ways. TV companies no longer have to put in their half-hearted effort to build a usable UI on TVs, Google's built a great one. 

More importantly, Google's solved the issue of how do you compete with Cable providers. By offering value to TV manufacturers, Google TV gets installed on your TV before the consumer gets a hold of it. Then Google offers video content using the internet as a delivery mechanism rather than cable. By running side-by-side with cable, Google doesn't force consumers to choose which is better (or lay out huge sums of money to try a new technology). In the abstract Google has solved the go to market problem.

We'll see if it catches on; I know I can't wait to try it.