It's not often that I get excited about a gadget ahead of it's release, I'm far too cautious, pragmatic and 'a girl' for that, but Google TV has got me positively giddy with excitement. To the point that I am quite likely to splash out and be an 'early adopter' when it does launch, which should be later this year in the USA and early 2011 for us Brits. Quite why Google TV has caught my imagination I couldn't say, after all there are already web enabled televisions out there and I can already watch TV and interact via my lap-top, but the pre-launch buzz around Google TV has managed to convince me that it will be that magical bridge product, the one that gets everyone excited, involved and changing habits. (So Father Christmas, if you are reading this, all I want for Christmas is...!!!)
If you haven’t heard about Google TV yet here’s a quick summary of what it will be based on the pre-launch buzz. Simply put, Google TV will be a TV that will also offer Internet. Now I can understand why this might not sounding very exciting, particularly as there are already ways and means of accessing the Internet through your TV or whilst watching TV, so let me explain why I'm feeling giddy about Google TV.
Unlike present TVs with Internet, Google TV will have open architecture i.e. you'll be able to access the full online universe (as much as you can on your PC and laptop) and it will have apps, just like you have on your smart phone (eg iPhone). At present you need a streamer to do this, or you can access in part (for example, some TVs now offer YouTube and iPlayer access).
It was about a decade ago that I first heard the idea of Internet through your TV. At the time this was mooted in terms of Internet access for all, family interaction and opportunities for retailers. But whilst this is interesting, it seems more interesting to retailers than it does to viewers. Since then the world has changed. We have smart phones, we have YouTube, we have TV on demand services like iPlayer, SeeSaw, and 4 on Demand, we have iTunes and we have firms like LoveFilm offering rental downloads. Bandwidth has increased, media streaming usage has increased dramatically, UK households now have multiple online access points, new generations are web-literate and unaware of that old world where you had to leave the comfort of your sofa or office to research something. All in all, we've mostly become web-familiar and increasingly reliant, we like instant, immediate access and at our fingertips information. And yet, online entertainment is still in its infancy, for example, in August 2009 the BBC announced demand from 70million viewers for iPlayer, in August 2010 that had increased to 119million.
At present most of us watch TV on our television. Will access YouTube and online on demand services via our laptop or computer and digest news etc while we're at work - be that via computer or a smart phone. You can access everything, there are ways and means, but it's fragmented and the majority of us don't connect our home based devices to talk to each other and share as well as stream content (apologies technical people who are horrified at my use of terminology here). It's also fair to say that the television is a focal point for households, even in households where there is more than one television (which is the majority these days) it has a starring role. So the holy grail of content would be connecting that television to limitless content. And this is where Google TV steps in and where I start getting giddy.
Imagine you can watch whatever you like on your TV when you want to. That's TV shows past & present, movies past & present, content by independents whether professionals or not via the likes of YouTube; some paid for, perhaps micro payments for streaming as you have with LoveFilm and SeeSaw at the moment, some not. All sounds quite pedestrian so far I know, but think a little harder...
...your TV menu could switch from being channel focused to topic focused. So, if you are interested in money/investing, you can search for money/investing content and access strong business and personal finance programming from around the world as well as relevant online content. You could download an application that allowed you to invest whilst watching a programme that looked at the fundamentals of a company (iBall TV does this rather well at the moment), or allowed you to check out the present share price, or perhaps to look up what the FT had to say about it all – all whilst watching the show.
Show’s which presently rely heavily on a combination of marketing, audience interest and the channel to show it at a prime slot could find a new audience, an audience that presently finds the show on DVD rather than when shown, which could change the way that executives look at commissioning and continuing shows.
You could (e)chat whilst viewing a show, perhaps with friends and family, perhaps with other viewers around the world watching it whilst you do, difference being you could do this in a small box on screen rather than via your phone or lap-top. An interesting new dimension for debate shows, and for drama - imagine a murder mystery where the audience helps develop the story in some way, an interactive drama - it's an established stage technique, could it now translate to TV too?
Programmers could create global events, streaming at the same time around the globe - in a way that we rarely see outside of international sporting events and as first seen 25 years ago with Live Aid. Audiences, already global, could become truly global. For independents the possibilities of finding an audience and creating your own distribution increase. The cable revolution didn't hit the UK in the same way as it did in the USA with garage shows (Wayne's World was a parody of this, amongst other things) but this could offer a new garage show revolution. It could also open up opportunities for interesting regional programming, after all the Internet helps "community" rather well.
It could also impact web development. Imagine your companies website is appearing not on a small computer screen but on a HD 44" TV screen in someones living room. going It's a game changer. Colour, graphics, movement, interactivity, use of full screen - all more TV friendly than computer screen friendly.
Interactivity needs encouragement, which suggests developing gadgets, applications, games and talk boards for TV viewers - think smart phone apps but on a TV and of course a TVs apps would probably be different to a smart phone's, you can do so much more with them on a bigger screen and a home based but in no way captive audience is quite a different animal, plus, they’ll be using their remote control to navigate, so nothing too complicated navigation wise or you’ll lose them. Back to the old 3 clicks and you’re out navigation rules perhaps? Plus, just imagine how cool the remote control will look!
I’m not the most tech literate person on the planet. I do not buy a new gadget, read the 240 page mini manual and gain all I can gain from it, I’m more of a learn as I go and discover that simple short cut a year later kind-of-a-girl. But to my mind Google TV could be about more than just gadgetry, it could be a game changer.
Internet usage has increased dramatically in the UK in the last ten years. BBC iPlayer helped to increase the adoption of media streaming in the UK, which continues to grow at dizzying speeds. YouTube allows people to share not just stories, but images, music, film. Google TV, if it’s priced right, does what it says it will do and is sold in all the right places should – in combining TV and Internet – open up a glorious universe of content, ideas, creativity, interactivity and most importantly simplicity to audiences (all in the one box, ta da!).
Personally I find the idea of reading about a movie, clicking directly to a renter who allows me to stream it for £1.99, accessing my IMDB app to find out “what that actress is called because it’s bugging me, ohh just on the tip of my tongue – ah ha!”, and then linking to other viewers who are discussing what they think of it as they go really exciting, whilst writing a rebuffal to the reviewer who was unnecessarily disparaging about it (of course) in the comments section below their review.
Perhaps it will all turn out to be a huge disappointment, all hype and no delivery. But then again, perhaps not. I will leave you with the words of a Google executive at a conference earlier this year:
“Once you have Google Television you’re not going to be passive, you’re going to be very, very busy. It’s going to ruin your evening. That’s our strategy.”
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