May 20, 2010
*
Logitech’s Big Plans for Google TV*
By ANTHONY HA
VentureBeat
http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2010/05/20/20venturebeat-logitechs-big-plans-for-google-tv-5517.html?pagewanted=print
Kevin Simon, a product management director at Logitech, gave me more
details this afternoon about what the company is building around Google
TV, the just-announced system for accessing the Web on your television.
Logitech’s “companion box” (the company isn’t sharing its official name
yet) will be much more than an Internet connection for your TV, he said.
And Logitech isn’t stopping with a single device.
The box basically uses Google TV as its operating system, but it will
include lots of extra features. Logitech’s Harmony technology for
managing multiple devices (such as your stereo or video game console)
from a single remote will be built in. And by “remote”, I actually mean
“smartphone” — if users own the box and install an application on their
iPhone or Android device, they’ll be able to use that device as the
controller.
The experience, he said, will be “television the way it should be.” When
you sit down to watch a TV, you probably don’t care whether it comes
from a network TV channel, cable, YouTube, or many of the other
streaming video sources on the Web. Conversely, the main reason people
watch television on their computers is because they can’t get the
content on their television — it’s not like the laptop viewing
experience is anything to get excited about. With Google TV, you can see
all that content on the biggest, highest-quality screen in your house.
And instead of crowding your family around a laptop for a Skype phone
call, you can all sit in front of the TV. The box will also integrate
Logitech’s Vid cameras for video phone calls — I haven’t tried the
service, but Simon described it as Skype but focused entirely on video
calling.
The other device that Logitech is working on, which I didn’t get to see
in action, is a specially-designed controller that combines keyboard,
mouse, and remote capabilities. Neither a regular remote nor a
keyboard/mouse setup are really built for the hybrid Web/TV experience
that Google is building, Simon said, but this new controller will be.
The company isn’t announcing pricing or exact timing, except to say the
devices should be ready this fall. As announced on-stage, they will be
sold at Best Buy, and Simon said they’ll be available on Amazon, too.
I’m guessing there will be other retailer announcements as we get closer
to the launch date.
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================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
Mail: antunes at uh dot edu
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