At Google’s world wide developer conference called Google I/O in San Francisco Google announced their new initiative into TV or Google TV.

At SiliconANGLE we predicted this two years ago and now it’s a reality. Before we get into the details lets look at what this really represents – It’s Apple envy but competing in a completely different way. Google is going open not closed. Many of their moves here at Google I/O represent the polar opposite of what Apple is doing in terms of strategy. What isn’t different is the markets Google is going after. It’s clearly Apple envy.

What’s The Angle on Google TV
Don’t expect anything soon from Google on having anything for consumers.  This announcement is really about energizing developers.  Very similar to how they rolled out Android for mobile. Like Android for mobile which became a huge success I expect this to be the same.  Google TV will work because of their developer angle.  Again kudos to Google for going strong for the big consumer markets and attacking it differently.

Google is seeding the market with technology, developer tools, and platforms that will allow developers to start banging out some products. The impact to end user will be about 2 years. So expect Google to do some massive push at CES 2012. By then Google will have established the developer market and new solutions will emerge that will allow the hardware guys to “cherry pick” the best features for new TVs.

Google is also staying true to making Google TV open and web focused. This isn’t just another web tv guide. Google is bringing user experiences that Internet consumers are used to mainly search and mobile. Very smart for Google.

Google Has Developer Traction – Catch and Release Strategy to Ecosystem Development

I am very impressed lately by Google’s commitment to how they are developing their ecosystem. They are stealing most of their plays from Microsoft in the late 80s then modifying them for open source and this new era of programmers.

I call this the ‘Catch and Release’ strategy for developing their ecosystem of developers and partners.Google is certainly doing a lot of land grabbing, but they are releasing their innovations and improvements as open source. This strategy for ecosystem development is much different than Microsoft’s old model (closed ecosystem embrace and extend). Google is earning credibility in a new way by enabling key technology and then by releasing code for open collaboration and development – Catch and Release.

They are betting on the Internet Operating System. If more people use the web then Google wins. Here again with Google TV (similar to Andriod, Chrome, and dozens of other projects inside the Googleplex) Google’s innovation is the ‘catch’ and their ecosystem developer strategy is the ‘release’.

My friend Rob Hof has a good angle on this announcement over on his blog RobHof.com.

Rob points out:

… the real opportunity for Google is to add television as a platform for advertising. It’s no secret that the company has tried to move beyond the Web, but its efforts in radio and print advertising went nowhere. Google’s TV advertising push also hasn’t taken off, but the potential has remained the most promising because as Web-to-TV devices such as Tivo, Boxee, Roku, and many others start to catch on and settop boxes allow for collection of data about people’s viewing habits and even their Web activities, television is a natural extension for Google.

Google TV Specifics

Here is some information from Google’s blog post this morning.

Google working together with Sony and Logitech to put Google TV inside of televisions, Blu-ray players and companion boxes. These devices will go on sale this fall, and will be available at Best Buy stores nationwide.

Google TV is a new experience for television that combines the TV that you already know with the freedom and power of the Internet. With Google Chrome built in, you can access all of your favorite websites and easily move between television and the web. This opens up your TV from a few hundred channels to millions of channels of entertainment across TV and the web. Your television is also no longer confined to showing just video. With the entire Internet in your living room, your TV becomes more than a TV — it can be a photo slideshow viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more.

Google TV uses search to give you an easy and fast way to navigate to television channels, websites, apps, shows and movies. For example, already know the channel or program you want to watch? Just type in the name and you’re there. Want to check out that funny YouTube video on your 48” flat screen? It’s just a quick search away. If you know what you want to watch, but you’re not sure where to find it, just type in what you’re looking for and Google TV will help you find it on the web or on one of your many TV channels. If you’d rather browse than search, you can use your standard program guide, your DVR or the Google TV home screen, which provides quick access to all of your favorite entertainment so you’re always within reach of the content you love most.