February 13, 2012, 8:30 AM — Sometimes I run across a rumor that’s so fun I have to share it, even though I don’t really believe it. Today is one of those times, and I wanted to talk about the mysterious Google Home Entertainment device.
The basic rumor that started making the rounds last week is that Google is going to be producing a self-branded consumer electronic device that let’s you stream digital music throughout your home. Many comparison’s to Sonos were made, but the presumption was that the Google device would be cheaper (not a hard mark to hit; Sonos devices command a premium price). That’s a plausible enough rumor, but rather a dull one in my opinion.
Then The Wall Street Journal jumped in, reinforcing the audio streaming idea but adding to it this footnote: “In the future, such a device could potentially stream other forms of digital media such as video…” That makes things slightly more interesting but the article also quotes Sonos co-founder Tom Cullen as saying “I’d be stunned if they actually thought it was worth it, because it’s peanuts for them…” He’s referring to Sonos’s annual sales last year of about $200 million while Google’s revenue was $38 billion.
The article then mentions Android@Home which is basically an ‘operating system’ for your house. The idea is that you’d connect some kind of interface boxes to your appliances (ideally I suppose, Android@Home would be build in) and then you could both stream your music to the living room stereo and turn on your coffee maker, all from your Android handset. Kind of like the X10 system only with (hopefully) a better website.
So that idea makes things a little more interesting and perhaps more likely. Given that Google’s entry into the music ecosystem, Google Music, is already based on streaming to devices, it seems almost besides the point to produce a separate, dedicated device for streaming music throughout your house. It’d make more sense to add a Google Music client to Blu-ray players, Tivos and game consoles, and produce Android-device friendly audio docks for bedrooms and back decks.
And here’s where things get really fun. I noticed a bold post on Google+ by Nicolas Charbonnier who runs a site called ARMdevices.net. Charbonnier claims that the new Google device will be under $100 and will be a complete Google TV system with the edition of a 3D gaming engine capable of producing graphics on a par with the Xbox 360. It’ll play all Android games, he suggests.
That all sounded way too good to be true (and those aren’t all his claims) so I checked out Charbonnier’s website where he listed his sources: the Wall Street Journal post and his own logic and speculation. Ah well. I’m loving the vision here but I think Charbonnier is being very optimistic.
But this rumor did get me thinking about a Google TV home entertainment device that played music and video from the Android Market and also supported Android games using a physical controller, and how game developers could build systems linking games on handsets to games on the “Google TV console” in a way very similar to what Sony is doing with the Playstation 3 and the Vita. That could bring something to Android gaming that (for now at least) iOS gaming couldn’t match.
While I was jazzed about that idea, I was made aware of an update on the Google TV Facebook page, saying Get ready for Monday, we have some big announcements!. The Wall Street Journal post suggested that whatever device Google is working on is “expected to be unveiled later this year” and while technically today fits that bill, I’m probably being overly optimistic to think that this big announcement will be new hardware.
The ‘big announcement’ probably refers to the new Google TV YouTube app that the Google TV blog posted about yesterday. After all, you’d think Google would hold a press event with a dog pony show if they were launching new hardware. The good news, I guess, is that we’ll know later today. We can hope, right?
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Article source: http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/249364/google-announcing-google-tvmusic-hardware-today