Why Google TV is going to be just fine

Now that Logitech’s Revue product and Sony’s Google TV enabled TVs have been announced (or announced and “leaked” respectively) there are folks that are getting pre-disenchanted with Google TV:

• Am I Blind, Or Am I Just Not ‘Seeing’ What’s So Great About Google TV?
  
• Tweet by @StardotGarf: It’s difficult to make things simple. But Apple must have rolled on the floor laughing when they saw this: http://bit.ly/9DvizE
  

First of all, I disagree with the idea that there’s a bunch of hype around Google TV. There’s not, this comment is just reflects an insular tech community perspective.

Second, yes, I agree with the fact that Sony’s keyboard for Google TV is silly… I joked earlier this week that Brother should sue Sony for copying their label printer keyboards… then again, come on now, be honest, who *hasn’t* thought of using their Brother label printer to control their television!?!

And, yes, I agree that Logitech’s Revue is too complicated (see the What you Need section of this page… consumers do NOT want this!) and it’s priced too high ($299… without an input device!).

So I think Logitech’s Revue is going to flop and Sony’s products aren’t going to sell any better than any of their other TV products (which I would consider a flop, if I were Sony). I’ve seen lots of other companies try and sell “next generation” TV experiences to consumers and Logitech and Sony repeat a lot of the same mistakes (including some of the same mistakes we made at SnapStream with Beyond TV).

But you know what: It doesn’t matter if Logitech and Sony fail, Google TV is going to be JUST fine. Why? Because it’s F-R-E-E, free!! (or, eventually, less than free). The $99 (or less) Google TV box WILL come out. Google will keep improving the software stack, bringing more content into the fold, bringing more 3rd party apps into the mix, making web-browsing on your TV better and better. The price premium for Google TV on your cable or satellite set-top box, your TV, your Blu-ray player, etc. will eventually go to $0. Android’s doing this in smartphones and Google TV will do it in the TV category as well.

Personally, I’m not going to buy a new Google TV enabled Sony TV (even though I’m actually in the market for a new TV right now) and I’m definitely not buying a Logitech Revue. But I will buy the first halfway decent $99 or less Google TV box that comes out so I can play around with it and watch Google make the software better and better.