With the launch of the Chromecast – a seemingly competing product that plugs into the TV – the under utilised Google TV platform and devices will continue to exist as a standalone product, at least according to a Google+ post from the Google TV team.
The Google TV team has spoken of the continued existence of Google TV advising that partnerships for new Google TV enabled HDTVs and set-top boxes are already in the pipeline and will continue to move forward, and at least one member of the Google TV team has also advised via Google+ that Google TV will actually support ‘Cast’ moving forward. :
With the exciting news about Chromecast we are getting a lot of questions mostly wondering if Google TV is dead.
No, in fact partners are continuing to launch new Google TV-enabled HDTVs and boxes. As we announced at I/O, we are working with partners to bring the latest experience of Android and Chrome to devices later this year. We believe there is ample room for both products to exist and succeed.
Warren Rehman from the Google TV team has advised regarding the addition of Chromecast to Google TV :
I’m still gainfully employed working on +Google TV – no it isn’t dead, and yes it will support Cast.
These quotes confirm that just as Android and Chrome can co-exist as distinct yet seemingly similar products, so to can Google TV and Chromecast. The products do exist with slightly different functionality, but the addition of Chromecast to a fairly cheap, yet well manufactured GoogleTV product would allow for a pretty aggressive attack on things such as the Boxee, AppleTV and other devices. We’ll have to see once the initial Chromecast madness settles down and partnerships for more Chromecast devices rollout.
Thanks for that article. I’m still weighing up which one will be best for me.