After what appears to be the beginning of a successful launch of their HDMI dongle in Europe, it’s being rumoured that Google will begin sales of the Chromecast here in Australia on May 7th according to sources who’ve spoken to CNET Australia.
When launching in the US and in Europe, the key has been relationship with content providers and it appears that Google is continuing this trend in Australia. With one of CNETs’ sources apparently from a TV Network, which has been corroborated independently by a ‘third party developer’ who both pointed to the May 7th Launch date.
CNET contacted Google who advised them :
We understand that everyone’s really excited about Chromecast but we don’t have a timeline to share about it coming to Australia
Whether the May 7th date is locked or not is unknown, but stock shortages due to overwhelming popularity in Europe and the US could of course move this date. Whether the Chromecast will launch here in Google Play or at retail only as their Chromebook hardware offerings have done is another question.
We’re watching and definitely interested in hearing from sources at retail and TV networks if you’re interested in talking to us.
Which TV Network do you think Google is speaking to about media content deals for the Chromecast launch?
Boo…. May 7 and no news of a release. Ah well, so glad I got one from Amazon. I want another one…
With major TV network support, ie iView, Ten, seven I think it’ll be worth a purchase. I’ll be interested in the price.
Getting Excited!
Don’t think its necessarily content deals, i would expect them to have lined up Channel Ten and ABC to have their apps readied with chromecast support for launch day!
i’m only interested, if I can run MY movies, from my tablet, to the TV,
you can. Allcast or Plex.
or even BubbleUPnP
Don’t get excited. I have one, and it’s nothing to write home about. My XBMC RasPi is much nicer to use.
Depends what you have already and main reason for using it is. For me it was to unlock a lot of the Play store/Play Music content I had already invested in. The Youtube app to chromecast is way cool as well. But if you don’t have interest in either of those, it might not be that great here until the TV networks/Content providers make their Apps ChromeCast ready.
JMTC
Really? My Pi set up consistently locks up after a lengthy period of standby time. I have to power cycle to fix (which given the boot up time Indy that much of a big deal really, just annoying)… I got a FLIRC dongle that doesn’t seem to remember the remote, so I use either the official XBMC app, or Yatse, but both of them “forget” or can’t pick up the pi (connected via Ethernet to a apple extreme base station)fairly often, making me need to retype the IP address in…. Do you have these issues? Are you running OpenElec?
Yep, really. Only ever locked up once or twice in the 18 months we’ve been using it. Connected to the TV with HDMI, and the TV passes the remote control commands to the RasPi via CEC, no extra remote required. It’s connected to Ethernet in the house, no wifi. We’ve run XBMC, Xbian and OpenElec, none have been a problem. It streams content from our NAS at least 6 hours a day, and up to 18 hours a day on weekends (kids, plus our movies). Has always been very reliable.
Depends how you use it. a $30 Plex client is amazing and when compared to the over $100 i spent on my pi/case/kb&mouse/cables its a hell of a lot cheaper and smoother as well.