Google TV

F I N A L L Y.

Google and Partners Seek Foothold in the Living Room - NYTimes.com

At least, I think so.

Meaning: when this was 'announced', my immediate thought was that AppleTV will finally get a swift kick in the ass to implement some new features and finally develop as a platform, less as a hobby. I have said for so long that AppleTV was poised to be the next big thing. Apple has not prioritized it properly, placing it on the back burner while they addressed iPhone (which was important) and now the iPad (which isn't).

Enter Google; Apple's new worst enemy. If Google enters the market, and aims at one thing: getting media to the TV, both from within the household:

Ripped CDs

'backed-up' DVDs

Digital photos

and maybe more importantly, from without:

Movie streaming from NetFlix, Apple, Amazon

Online videos from YouTube, Hulu, etc.

Music streaming from Pandora, Last.fm, etc

Download audio and video podcasts (ok, maybe more for people like me)

But most importantly, and THIS is the kicker: IP TV. (network distributed TV, think YouTube but for actual broadcast shows and movies)

Set top boxes will live and die by this point. My wife, my parents and everyone like them want TV. Often, they don't care where the content comes from, how it gets there, or how cool the technology is. They just want to watch TV. This means, no changing input sources on their TV, nothing more complex than plugging in a coax or ethernet cable to the box and HDMI to the TV.

If you make them switch inputs for live TV, this and all devices like it, will die on the vine. But there is the inherent problem with these new integrated, media devices.

Google already has the hardware and software knowledge to manufacture this device. The problem is, and always will be the installed base of content providers and content brokers. Within this light, Comcast's purchase of NBC was masterful. Pure genius. They have defended their position as both a provider and a broker and no one noticed. But I digress.

It is this simple: make it so people can subscribe for TV channels for yearly fees directly from providers (even through current brokers) a-la-cart. Then, subscribers could create a TiVo-like "Season Pass" for shows they want. Make it cost whatever is reasonable (the price will be influenced by all the usual market forces) and I don't care if you embed commercials or not.

There are exciting times in an otherwise stagnant industry, ahead.