Google TV, an operating system for connected TVs, has received negative reviews in the US since its October launch. Now Google TV, because it is a software product, is dependent on hardware partners to bring it to the market, but it has nonetheless been confronted with severe criticism. Logitech has a box on the market, while Sony has four TVs, a Blu-ray player and perhaps Google TV on PlayStation 3 soon. Motorola and Samsung have also hinted that they want to introduce hardware on the market, with Google TV as an OS. The upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (6-9 January) will undoubtedly see a wave of new products.
What is the main thrust of the criticism? A recurring theme is the fact that the four major US broadcasters (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) are not included, nor is the most important catch-up service (Hulu). The content owners have systems that recognise hardware and so block their services. The content owners block their services because they want a strict distinction between consuming content from TV and from a computer. The former involves a much greater number of commercials, which makes the TV a much more valuable environment. The question however is really, how sustainable will such a distinction be in the long run. Not surprisingly, there exists a work-around system, although not for Google TV. The newly launched Orb TV (a small box) runs in conjunction with a server programme on a computer. Content therefore comes in first on the computer, so that broadcasters can’t block their content, and is then channeled to the box and the TV screen.
A second point of criticism is the complexity of the whole thing, combined with the idea that watching TV is mostly a passive affair - hence the term 'couch potato'. The New York Times aptly sums it up: "On the great timeline of television history, Google TV takes an enormous step in the wrong direction: Toward complexity." According to reviews, it's just all too complicated: to operate the service, you need both a mouse and keyboard, and especially, there are also the necessary but illogical choices for the hardware (buttons) and the menus. Nevertheless, many of the objections will be removed as new versions come out for both the hardware and Google TV itself; there are a lot of changes in the areas of control (the user interface) and content discovery. Voice control, a widget bar, menus, remote controls with keyboards or only five keys (left, right, up, down, enter), a smartphone app, on-screen keyboards, and even gesture-based control, which has become a reality now that Microsoft’s Kinect is on the market. And for discovering content, there are countless options in development, including: electronic or interactive programme guides (EPG, IPG), the Google Queue (directory), a browser with search engine, recommendations engine and social networks.
The presence of a search engine is currently causing conflict in the world of Connected TV, and the last word has not yet been pronounced: will the consumer be allowed access to the entire internet (needing a browser with a search engine), or would it be better to present a widget bar (with icons that lead to applications, similar to apps on a smartphone)? Walled gardens have a bad reputation, but perhaps the offer of an abundance of content is simply too much and so the widget bar would then be a happy medium. In other words: perhaps widget bars could give the couch potato just enough choice to not scare him or her away, with YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, Netflix and Amazon VOD presented as recurring apps.
The future will surely tell, but perhaps the concept of the couch potato will soon be obsolete. Not only does research show young people regularly multitasking while watching TV, but there is also the question of how passive the couch potato really is. Really, zapping became popular by default: aimlessly flipping through an endless series of programmes. Whether it is a search engine or widget bar: maybe that is exactly what the zapping couch potato is looking for.
Telecompaper will hold its Connected TV 2011 conference at the end of April.
