Saturday, July 27, 2013

After Declaring Victory Over the Internet, Google Aims for Streaming ...

Google?s internet dominance took an exponential leap with the introduction of its $35 Chromecast dongle device, which allows users to pull content from the cloud, as well as smartphones, tablets and laptops to stream on HDTVs.?

The simplistic streaming solution is essentially brand agnostic, making it a boon for some?and a detriment to others.

Quick to recognize the growing opportunity that Smart TV technology poses, Netflix comes bundled with the device, along with a three-month free trial. "The world is moving from linear TV to Internet TV, and Netflix is leading that evolution," CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells wrote in a letter to shareholders. The company, whose shares dropped after the latest numbers indicated it was adding subscribers at a slower pace, likely welcomes Google's device with open arms as it proliferates its service.

The thumb drive-like device also opens a wide door for services like Hulu, Flixster and CinemaNow to build out connections with Google's Chrome browser, allowing users to simply click the "cast" button to stream content to their TVs. Chromecast will also work with Pandora?s music-streaming service, with more functionality sure to come as Google pursues other content partners.?

?What the Chromecast lets you do is take content from anywhere and "throw" it up onto any television set in the home. This simple little device could be what 'disrupts' the normal television set and changes it into a ubicomp board," ZDNet comments. ?That would then give us the full set?tabs, pads, and boards, and seeing as post-PC and ubicomp are tied at the hip it changes the nature of the television set and turns it into a post-PC device.?

Android, iPhone and iPad compatible, the device poses a direct threat to Roku and Apple's Apple TV and AirPlay service, which allows users to stream photos and videos from their iPhone or iPad to a TV via the set-top box. While Roku and Apple TV have the ability to currently stream much more content than Chromecast, the new device is the smallest and cheapest of the bunch, in turn making it the easiest way, according to Forbes, "for the average consumer to become a 'cord cutter' and dump their cable or satellite TV provider."

The device may also help grow Google's marketshare in another area besides TV streaming?advertising.??If Google gains a foothold in helping more Web content appear on TV screens, that could be a boon to Google's core advertising business, as no other company sells more online search, graphical and video ads across millions of websites and apps," the Wall Street Journal notes.?

Chromecast wasn't the only Apple-busting device introduced this week. At the same event, Google unveiled its new Nexus 7 tablet, which challenges Apple's iPad Mini and Amazon's Kindle Fire. With an attractive price, faster processor and the leading Android software, the new tablet is poised to overtake Apple's slice of the tablet market, which, as reflected in its most recent quarterly earnings, is declining.?

As for Google's other existing TV product, Google TV, the company says it will continue marketing it, as the set-top box allows any Android device to playback apps and other content on a TV "in a big way," senior vice president Sundar Pichai told Bloomberg.?

Source: http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/07/25/Google-Chromecast-072513.aspx

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