Google TV to Challenge Apple TV Beginning Next Week

[Michael Essany]

On Wednesday, October 6th, the people at Logitech (in what would appear to be Apple-fashion, of course) will hold an invitation only event in New York to unveil to the media and the world beyond a new multimedia platform (first officially announced last spring) that will directly square off against Apple TV in world of hybrid television/internet entertainment.

Next week, Logitech will introduce "Google TV," only to be similarly introduced the following week by "Sony," which will then launch the device on October 12th. Hyping the roll out, the prettied-up invitation proclaims that Google TV "will be a new experience that combines TV, the entire Web, and apps–as well as a way to search across them all.”

From Forbes:

Apple has delivered quality and ease of use on lots of products (though as of yet, not so much with Apple TV). Google may be wonky in some of its design, but it has partners like Sony and Logitech that understand consumers at play. Intel was also on board when the product was first announced last April, along with Best Buy.

Logitech’s Executive VP of Products, Junien Labrousse, will lead the presentation, which could ultimately prove to be about more than just the Google TV platform. Analogous to Steve Jobs' "one more thing," next Wednesday's event could also provide an ideal occasion to unveil other forthcoming Google projects, gadgets, or platforms. Nonetheless, the main course for Logitech at their event is clearly Google TV, which will have a clear shot at living room supremacy against the freshly released - and yet to be entrenched - Apple TV.

Forbes

[billchase2]

Cool, I'm interested to see where this goes. I own one of the slightly older Apple TVs and have been relatively happy with it (hacked). Though I've not yet been able to replace cable with a device like this. I'd love for someone to come out with a true replacement with more of an à la carte setup.

[Jmataska]

Darn, I want to get either Apple TV or this but I dont know which one will be better! I want an ATV because its Apple, period. And being able to hack it and the like, it seems irresistable. Opinions?

[wolverinemarky]

Will be interesting to see what happens


Sent from my iPhone using ModMyi

[mvhurlburt]

Well I can't wait to see what logitech and google will be offering up. I am in the market for a set top box right now I have a 4 year old IBM NetVista with a P4 running leopard and plex but I can't seem to get any resolution better than 1024 x 768 no matter what card/driver combo that I use(though I suppose it's good enough for 720p) on top of that the thing isn't exactly small.

I'm curious as to what goodies people hack onto the new ATV, with the availability of the mini USB/BT/NIC/WiFi I see the potential for USB peripherals in the future like ext. HDD and other fun stuff. Also it would be great to enable keyboard and mouse support which could allow web browsing and email right from the couch. Even things like iWork could be ported from iPad. It would be cool to hook up a remote DVD player hosted on a mac or pc. I would love to be able to stream via SMB/FTP/SSH from my NAS. The current offerings seem to have alot of potential though it seems the ATV 1 has more capabilities but will not see as much support down the road from apple and the hacking community. The one thing that I feel is a bit lack luster is the tiny 256MB of RAM(at least from a modding perspective) but hey it's only $100.

All that said I'd love to see what google has to offer, it sounds as if it will do alot of these things out of the box. Either way some healthy competition would be great, the more options the better! Hell maybe the next version of jailbreakme.com will be hosted on a cluster of ATVs...probably not but it would be cool though!

[jose060789]

Darn, I want to get either Apple TV or this but I dont know which one will be better! I want an ATV because its Apple, period. And being able to hack it and the like, it seems irresistable. Opinions?

Apple fanboy?

Sent from my iPhone 4 using ModMyi

[LSZ33]

The spirit of competition. I don't see myself going android, but choices are always good.

[elite_jounin]

Very very interesting. Like many of you, I do love the apple devices however competition is a must! Not really crazy about android software, however I do feel google is the closest in rivaling apple and their products.

I will be following this very closely. Web-browsing, apps, and live streaming peeks my interest more than AppleTV, however when you add the jailbreaking, well, that just changes EVERYTHING. Time will tell...

[Trooper Sam]

I'm planning on getting an Apple TV simply because it's the least expensive device I've found for Netflix streaming to the TV. If the Google TV can do it as well, and in the unlikely event it's less than $99, I'll change my plans to include it.

[s4mb4]

I'm planning on getting an Apple TV simply because it's the least expensive device I've found for Netflix streaming to the TV. If the Google TV can do it as well, and in the unlikely event it's less than $99, I'll change my plans to include it.

Review: WD TV Live Plus media player ? New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices | Geek.com

blows away Apple TV because it does 1080. I have 3 of them and they play EVERYTHING!

[zoso10]

Maybe this will pressure Apple a little more to better the ATV.

Logitech? Hopefully it won't look like some cheap plastic box like most of Logitech's other products.

[awesomeSlayer]

"We will see about that.

-Apple

This might put up a good competition.

[ro0oney]

$99 plus movies

[sziklassy]

On Wednesday, October 6th, the people at Logitech (in what would appear to be Apple-fashion, of course)...

Of course... we all know Apple invented the invite only event.

[juggz143]

After watching a few videos on google tv it looks like a better product hands down, but I'm curious to see what jailbreaking does for atv...

Take iPhone for example, OTB there are better phones IMO, but NOTHING beats a jailbroken iPhone. Nothing even comes close, so I'm still on the fence about which tv product to get. Leaning towards google tho and here's why: iPad. I love my iPad but I can't even get a decent theme for it and all the best tweaks for it are technically developed for iPhone/touch and just happen to work for iPad. It seems either not many devs have an ipad or they don't care to put in the same effort towards it. I'd hate to buy (what I see as) the weaker product 'in hopes' the community takes a liking to it.

Didn't mean for this to become a rant but that's my 2¢

[Jmataska]

Apple fanboy?

Sent from my iPhone 4 using ModMyi

Idiot who needs to act like an adult? Im not ashamed to be a fan of a company who makes great products. Leave if your not on the forums to ask/answer questions. You take up space. Leave.