CES 2012 Preview: LG, Samsung, Vizio and Sony to Unveil Google TV
Google Inc. is expanding its Internet-TV coalition as LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Vizio Inc. join Sony Corp. in showcasing Google TV products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year.
Sony has already released Google TV television sets and set-top boxes. This year Sony will unveil new devices for the U.S. and in several countries around the world. Samsung and Vizio showed off prototype Google TV products at last year's CES but both companies never released the devices on the market. Vizio will be showcasing their new line of Google TV products at CES while Samsung and Google are working to bring Samsung-powered Google TV devices to the market this year.
LG is the newest partner to produce Google TV products. The company will showcase a new line of TV running Google TV with LG's L9 chipset at CES.
Google TV lets users surf the Internet with Google's Chrome Web browser, search for content on cable and online content providers like Netflix and Pandora.
"Google TV is about bringing new entertainment and innovation from the Web to TV," California-based Google said on its blog. "Our team along with our partners are pleased to bring more Google TV powered products to more people, across more devices in more countries in 2012."
Google TV was introduced in 2010 with lackluster sales. A lack of content from media companies made it harder to attract consumers to buy Google TV. It was also criticized for a clunky user interface. Google refreshed its Google TV in October in a bid to bolster sales. The platform gained popularity after Google updated its Google TV software in October. Google is also working on building up support for the platform in a bid to bolster sales and attract consumers from rivals Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
"Since launching the update, we've seen our activation rates more than double," Google said. "New features and new apps are coming to the living room via Google TV almost every day. We now have more than 150 apps, which developers have specifically built for TV."
Google is also working with chipmakers Marvell Technology and MediaTek Inc. Marvell announced Thursday that it will bring ARM processors to Google TV after Intel backed away from producing processors for Google TV. MediaTek also partnered with Google and has developed a 120Hz Smart TV chip with 3D viewing support and Wi-Fi network syncing for Google TV.