Say Goodbye to Google TV and Hello to Android TV
Google had ginormous plans for Google TV when it launched three years ago, and when the history books are written about this era, perhaps it will say that it was a concept slightly ahead of its time. In any event, Google isn't giving up on its core dream of dominating the living room with Android, though it is planning to officially retire the Google TV brand, which is arguably tarnished as this point after some early failures.
In its place will be Android TV, according to an executive from a consumer electronics manufacturer who spoke with GigaOM. In the meantime, several of Google's hardware partners have already dropped the old branding, including Sony, which introduced a new smart TV adapter called Bravia TV stick last month. The Bravia TV stick is actually based on the most recent version of Google TV, though there's nothing to advertise that fact in Sony's press release.
Developers who were part of the original Google TV team have also dropped the old branding. In fact, a recent developer event in Seoul was called Android TV Developer Day. If you peek at some of the developer profiles, you'll see that some of them have changed the wording from Google TV to Android TV.
Don't mistake this for a simple name change, however. When Google TV launched, the infrastructure was based on Honeycomb. Today, Google TV still hasn't gotten past Android 3.2. Google did say it would update Google TV to the latest version of Android, but it looks as though that will now be Android TV.
If Android TV makes the jump to KitKat, or even Jelly Bean, it will be a lot more capable than Google TV ever was. The question is whether or not the concept is still ahead of its time.
In its place will be Android TV, according to an executive from a consumer electronics manufacturer who spoke with GigaOM. In the meantime, several of Google's hardware partners have already dropped the old branding, including Sony, which introduced a new smart TV adapter called Bravia TV stick last month. The Bravia TV stick is actually based on the most recent version of Google TV, though there's nothing to advertise that fact in Sony's press release.
Developers who were part of the original Google TV team have also dropped the old branding. In fact, a recent developer event in Seoul was called Android TV Developer Day. If you peek at some of the developer profiles, you'll see that some of them have changed the wording from Google TV to Android TV.
Don't mistake this for a simple name change, however. When Google TV launched, the infrastructure was based on Honeycomb. Today, Google TV still hasn't gotten past Android 3.2. Google did say it would update Google TV to the latest version of Android, but it looks as though that will now be Android TV.
If Android TV makes the jump to KitKat, or even Jelly Bean, it will be a lot more capable than Google TV ever was. The question is whether or not the concept is still ahead of its time.
