We are not quite sure what Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is eating or drinking lately, but whatever it is, it seems to be influencing him to make some rather "out there" predictions. For proof, consider his remarks today at the Le Web tech conference in Paris. As reported by Paid Content UK, Schmidt said, "By the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded in it."
That"s some pretty wild statement, considering that so far Google TV could be considered a massive disaster. Launched in the fall of 2010, the TV-based Internet operating system has already claimed one victim. Logitech went big with its Google TV set-top box the Revue but sales were so bad that the company has now shut down production of the product. The company"s Executive Chairman also called Google TV "beta" software.
Google TV recently launched a new and much improved 2.0 version of its software which had been updated on both the Logitech Revue as well as Sony"s Google TV-based Bravia televisions. There are rumors that both LG and Samsung plan to introduce their own Google TV based products later in 2012.
Despite these improvements, it"s going to be very hard for Google TV to gain a foothold in the TV marketplace, particularly since a number of television makers already have their own interfaces for their "Smart TVs". In his Paris address today, Schmidt predicted that Google TV will follow the same course as its Android mobile operating system which took a little while to take off as well. However, we think it"s going to take a lot more effort on Google"s part to convince TV manufacturers to adopt an operating system that so far has failed to make much of an impact.