Google has unveiled Google TV at the I/O conference today. If you didn’t know, Google makes nearly all of its income from advertisements and Google states that the television market is a $70 billion dollar a year industry. It only makes sense for Google to get into the TV advertising game so that they can expand upon their advertising empire.
Via the Google Blog, while the details are not yet clear on how Google will profit from this idea, the concept, it a nut shell, is to bring the entire Internet to your TV. By having Google search on your TV you can now do anything you can imagine. You will be able to search about the show you are watching, browse flash based content, use apps (Android market place), interact with advertisements, augment streaming content, and all of this occurs on an external box that has Wi-Fi, HDMI, IR blaster, a “strong processor” that is capable of surfing the web, and it will be manufactured by third party vendors.
The basis for the box will be Android with a Chrome browser that has Flash 10.1 built in; you will be able to download apps on your computer and they will sync to your Google TV via the Wi-Fi connection. It appears that you will have to use a keyboard for text input and you will also be able to use your phone as well but to what extent is unclear.
Sony is expected to launch the platform on its TVs and its Blu-ray players this fall and Logitech will introduce a standalone set top box with a Harmony remote and camera for video chat, the date for release was not disclosed.