Android TV

The smoke has cleared on Google’s $12.5B purchase of Chicago-based Motorola and now that almost everyone has had a chance to speak, I think we’re starting to understand what went down.

Google purchased Motorola (MMI) for $12.5B, a 63% premium over its weekend closing price.  Motorola, however, has around $3B in cash and securities, which makes the real purchase a slightly more reasonable $9.5B for Google.  For instance, if Google wanted to slice and dice Motorola, they’d take the cash and patents and sell off the cable box and device divisions for a couple billion dollars each and come away with about what they would have paid for Nortel – and get double to triple the patents. On sheer numbers of patents alone, it seems like a good buy. Obviously some patents are worth more than others.

If the deal doesn’t go through, Google owes Motorola $2.5B for the trouble, so Google is dead serious about this play.

But back to what Motorola does: They have IP, they make smartphones, they make tablets and they make cable top boxes.  It seems like almost too good a setup for Andy Rubin’s Android to just want to sell off piecemeal.

But did Google want to pick up a hardware company?  I reported earlier this year that the Android Hardware division that Andy Rubin had started up with former Danger Co-founders had intentions to build physical devices, not just Operating Systems.

That scale is what attracted and the former Danger founders to get the band back together, with their goal being to build the hardware and features they want to see show up in new Android devices. It’s not enough for Google to just provide Android software to carrier — now they hope to influence what handset makers build, too.

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While we’re not quite sure how they did it, the boys from GTVhacker have ported Honeycomb to their Google TV. Photographed above is Honeycomb running on a $99 Logitech Revue, where you can see the Market is now available. In their forum post, user zenofex says they’ll have more information in the next few days. Also discovered — Google TVs are now showing up in device listings on the Market website (photo after the break). We’ll let you know when there is more information.

As you may know from our twitter, we now have a way to run Honeycomb (Android 3.1) on ANY Logitech Revue. Heres a screenshot of the market/dashboard, we’ll have more info in the next few days.

New update includes:
Adbd
Android Market
Improved Media Player

via Phandroid

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It is no secret that Google TV failed to hit the ground running as the notion of having to buy another box for their TVs fell on deaf ear with the general public. It is no surprise then to find out that Google TV boxes are not selling very well, just like the Apple TV (picture below). What we didn’t know is how bad the situation is for the search giant’s pet project. TIMN points at a prepared statement from Logitech, the maker of Google TV-powered Revue box, in which the company acknowledged “very modest sales” of the product in the June quarter:

Sales of Logitech Revue were slightly negative during the quarter, as returns of the product were higher than the very modest sales. We believe the significantly lower everyday price for Logitech Revue, reduced from $249 to $99, will generate improved sales.

Google on its part will update the Google TV project with Honeycomb code later this summer, adding the ability to download and run apps on your television. But despite the aggressive price cut which will cost Logitech $34 million in one-time charges and the fact that the Revue now price-matches the $99 Apple TV, ordinary consumers will still be avoiding set-top boxes in droves, regardless of a brand.

Apple on its part could tackle the market with a rumored full-blown television set with the Apple TV functionality built-in. Apple’s op-chief Tim Cook recently in a conference call with Wall Street analysts re-iterrated Apple’s stance that the Apple TV box remains “a hobby” for the company. The comment jibes with Steve Jobs’s argument from the Wall Street Journal’s D8 conference last year when he said set-top box makers like Apple and Google faced a go-to market problem, calling the television market “balkanized” (full quote and video below the fold).

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From 9to5toys.com:

Sony Store offers its Sony 24″ 1080p LED-Backlit Widescreen LCD HD Television with Google TV, model no. NSX-24GT1, for $299.99 with free shipping. That’s $17 under our mention from two weeks ago and the lowest total price we could find by $117. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include a 1920×1080 (1080p) native resolution, LED backlight, 2,500:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 8GB of built-in storage, wireless keypad remote control, 802.11n wireless, Gigabit Ethernet, USB connectivity, one HDMI input, and VGA, component, and other video inputs. It also features support for the Android-based Google TV service (which allows you to watch Internet content on your HDTV) as well as applications for Netflix, Twitter, Pandora, CNBC, NBA TV, and more.
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Google gave all employees moving into the Zurich office apples with the Google logo engraved.
Source: Webilus.fr

It is hard to escape the buzz flying around Google+, the search monster’s latest social thing. It raised red flags at Facebook where Mark Zuckerberg summoned a hastily organized news conference that fell on def ears with general public. The presser was a classic case of over-promising and under-delivering as Zuckerberg’s “awesome announcement” turned out a yet another dull unveiling of way overdue features, such as group chat and Skype integration. But who would have though just a month ago that Google would put the fear of God into Facebook with what many consider an unusual take on social networking?

Nobody saw it coming when co-founder Larry Page took the reigns April 4 from Eric Schmidt. What a difference a few weeks make. An invite-only service closed for public in two weeks since launch signed up more than ten million users. And when it opens for everyone later this year, the hundred million milestone will be well within reach. Page, who once famously called Steve Jobs a liar, put the pedal to the metal from his first day as CEO by tying executive bonuses to their contributions to the company’s social strides. The move quickly earned him notoriety among tech watchers and his own employees.

But unlike Mark Zuckerberg – who may try to be, but is certainly no Steve Jobs on stage  (see why in the below YouTube clip) – Page has notably been keeping low profile while cunningly taking clues from Apple’s iconic leader. We were told about “moon shots”, to the dismay of many watchers (this author included). Page was stiffing innovation and focusing too much on corporate bureaucracy, many cried…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYYfvf40ZVc]

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From 9to5toys.com:

Logitech today offers a refurb Logitech Revue for $149.99.  That’s half of retail and the lowest price yet offered.  The Revue is the standalone Google TV unit with full sized keyboard and trackpad.  It features an Intel processor, 1080P video with browser that can play Flash video, Pandora, Twitter and more.

As we reported earlier this week, you can also pick up a Sony 24-inch LCD GoogleTV for just $299 as well.

Both of these machines will be upgradable to the next GoogleTV OS based un Honeycomb in the upcoming months.
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From 9to5toys.com:

TigerDirect offers the Sony 24″ 1080p LED-Backlit Widescreen LCD HD Television with Google TV, model no. NSX-24GT1, for $399.99. Coupon code “VKL35923″ drops it to $299.99. With free shipping, that’s $98 under yesterday’s mention and the lowest total price we’ve seen. (It’s a current price-low by $197.)

It also matches the price of the original Logitech GoogleTV Revue – so think of it as a GoogleTV with a free Sony 24″ 1080P TV thrown in for free.

Features include a 1920×1080 (1080p) native resolution, LED backlight, 2,500:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 8GB of built-in storage, wireless keypad remote control, 802.11n wireless, Gigabit Ethernet, USB connectivity, one HDMI input, and VGA, component, and other video inputs. It also features support for the Android-based Google TV service (which allows you to watch Internet content on your HDTV) as well as applications for Netflix, Twitter, Pandora, CNBC, NBA TV, and more. Coupon expires July 9.
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From 9to5toys.com:

Sony Style cuts $200 off its 24-inch Google TV.  The new $399 price was Sony’s original price for a GoogleTV BluRay Player (Which is now free with an HDTV purchase).

Sony Style offers its Sony 24″ 1080p LED-Backlit Widescreen LCD HD Television with Google TV, model no. NSX-24GT1, for $400 with free shipping. That’s $49 under our April mention and the lowest total price we could find by $97. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include a 1920×1080 (1080p) native resolution, LED backlight, 2,500:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 8GB of built-in storage, wireless keypad remote control, 802.11n wireless, Gigabit Ethernet, USB connectivity, one HDMI input, and VGA, component, and other video inputs. It also features support for the Android-based Google TV service (which allows you to watch Internet content on your HDTV) as well as applications for Netflix, Twitter, Pandora, CNBC, NBA TV, and more.

32 and 40-inch models also got cut $200 while the 46″ model got a healthy $400 price cut.

Does this mean new models with a new Honeycomb-based OS are on the way?  Likely.

The search giant promised at Google I/O last month that it would re-imagine the Google TV project around the Android 3.1 version modified for the set-top box project. They call it the “Fishtank” project and Geek.com has first details. The box Google shipped to some fifty developers contains a 45nm Intel CE4100 chipset that handles Flash and 3D gaming and runs the unreleased Google TV 2.0 beta software.

The back of this device shows quite a few more ports than what’s available on existing Google TV set top boxes, including coaxial ports, which would suggest Google has decided to let non-HD users enjoy Google TV as well. This is still a reference hardware, however, so there is nothing that says that any of these ports will be on the back of the next Google TV device, but it is clear that Google is allowing developers access to a great deal more video-in and video-out possibilities.

What else?

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Inglewood, California-based SageTV announced on its website today that it has been acquired by Google.  The rest of the site, besides forums, has been closed down and visitors with questions are encouraged to send emails to sagetv-dev@google.com.

SageTV is a mediacenter and Slingbox type of product in one.  It isn’t immediately certain how Google will use SageTV but adding its Tivo-like recording capability to GoogleTVand the Google Cloud would certainly be interesting.   Placeshifting technology (Slingbox) would also be a compelling technology for GoogleTVs to get into.
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We’re not going to prognosticate on what a $100 price drop means for the Logitech GoogleTV. We’ve been hearing mighty nice things about the Honeycomb update that is in the works for this summer in fact. But we thought you should know that Amazon has lopped of $100 which makes this Intel-based 1080P machine a pretty good bargain.

Update: Best Buy has matched the $200 price and Sony also offers the Sony BluRay GoogleTV for $260.
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Engadget caught some sweet new screen grabs of the new GoogleTV Android Market interface on the new GoogleTV 2.0 device.  IT isn’t much but it is something.  GoogleTV appears to becoming more tablet like, in interface anyway.  Another below:
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