Once again, Google appears to be following Apple. Amid the continual and loudening buzz about a real Apple TV come reports that Google is planning a major home-entertainment system. While it's not solely a television, the rumored product definitely shows a mirroring of strategy: to expand its digital product offerings toward customers' living rooms.
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A pair of reports -- from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal -- both say Google is working on a home-entertainment system based on the Android platform. This would be in addition to its current crop of Google TV products, which are essentially media streamers that bring web content to TVs. The new device is expected to launch later this year.
Said to be in the works for many years, the product is now in the prototype phase. As first reported by GigaOm, Google recently filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission that describes an "entertainment device" in need of testing outside the lab (and thus in need of FCC approval as well).
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The application is scant on details, but it does mention the device would be equipped with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, using the former to connect to the Internet and the latter to communicate with "other home electronics equipment." Multiple Google employees are testing the product, according to the document.
The thrust of the system, as the Journal describes, would run a version of Android and be controlled by either a smartphone or tablet. It's unclear exactly what the product will be, but Google's recent hardware acquisition, Motorola Mobility, is pegged as the manufacturer, although it will be sold under the Google brand.
A home-entertainment device fits with Google's long-term vision of being a key part of every part of a customer's digital life. The company already dominates Internet search, and in turn many aspects of the time anyone spends on a computer, but Google's efforts so far in taking over the living room have been less than successful.
Google launched its first Google TV device in late 2010 with the Logitech Revue. As content providers began blocking their material from working on the device, it quickly became apparent that Google had not thought through the platform, and sales of the device were anemic. Logitech's CEO later said the device was "a mistake of ... a gigantic nature."
Will Google's new stab at a home-entertainment system be successful? What would it have to be for you to buy it? Let us know in the comments.
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This story originally published on Mashable here.
