Google will launch its new service to bring web content to TV screens in the US this autumn and worldwide next year, CEO Eric Schmidt said at the Ifa trade show in Berlin. Google conducted a demonstration of the TV platform, which projects a search bar onto the top of the TV screen and allows users to surf the internet as well as search live TV listings. The platform will provide access to both paid and free content. Other planned features include access to Android mobile applications on the TV from early next year and channel changing using Google speech recognition technology, the Wall Street Journal reported from the event. Google will work with a variety of programme makers and electronics manufacturers to bring the TV service to consumers, but does not plan to get into content production, Schmidt told journalists after his keynote speech. According to a report from Reuters, Schmidt also said Google would announce partnerships later this year with makers of tablet computers that would use Google's new Chrome operating system, due to be launched soon, rather than its Android software that has been used for mobile devices until now. Schmidt also discussed Google's vision for developing the search market, saying the company is focused on delivering fast search results as well as "autonomous search" or searches to tell the user about things they may be interested in. This could include automatic searches on a smartphone to find information on the local surroundings. According to Schmidt, one in three queries from smartphones is now around 'where I am'. Mobile search traffic grew 50 percent in the first half of 2010, while search traffic from Android phones tripled in the first half of 2010, PaidContent reported from the speech.
