Look at your TV remote. How many buttons does it have? 20...30...more? Would your grandmother have trouble just turning the thing on?
Now compare that remote to the iPhone. Most functions are performed using just one button. Google's homepage is another example of glorious simplicity. Both Google and Apple have found tremendous success in a variety of markets, but have historically faced difficulty in the television arena.
When Google TV was first released around a year ago, it received lukewarm reviews. Nilay Patel, an Engadget blogger, wrote, "Google TV feels like an incomplete jumble of good ideas only half-realized, an unoptimized box of possibility that suffers under the weight of its own ambition and seemingly rushed holiday deadline." Google TV certainly had some features that appealed to the tech geeks, but most went over the head of ordinary consumers.
Apple TV has been around since 2007. At first, it was basically just an external hard drive that connected to your television. Newer iterations let users stream content directly from the iTunes store. Surely there are a lot of good ideas at play here, but it has yet to take off.
Knowing Google and Apple, though, neither company is going to give up so easily. Google recently announced that it will be releasing Google TV 2.0 this month, featuring Android Market integration and improved search features. Meanwhile, Apple reduced the price of its product to $99 last year, and will undoubtedly be unveiling a new version shortly.
Imagine a world where you could turn on your TV and say, "I want to watch the Soup Nazi," and instantly that iconic Seinfeld episode starts playing. Envision using your Android phone to play a game against three of your friends right on your TV. Keep tuning in; you won't want to miss it!
