Google to re-enter the smart TV market with Android platform

Google is set to announce the launch of Android TV at its Google I/O developer conference in June, according to a report in GigOM.

Android TV is rumoured to be a platform manufacturers of set-top-boxes and smart TVs will be able to develop, rather than a device in its own right, and will differ from the firm’s earlier Google TV offering which focussed on marrying existing pay TV services with apps.

Reported to use a new interface called Pono, Android TV is expected to offer users tailored recommendations for content including films, games and other third-party apps.

Google has already been in talks with the likes of Netflix and Hulu Plus to take part in a launch programme.

Android currently dominates the mobile market, and Google has clear aspirations to do the same with the television market.

Earlier this year Google brought its TV streaming device to the UK after a successful launch in the US.

Chromecast, a thumb-sized dongle which allows video content from tablets and smartphones to be ‘cast’ to a TV screen, has since sold around 100,000 devices in the UK with some industry experts warning it is a “strong threat” to the UK pay-TV market.

By 2018, it is thought that some 760 million TV sets will be connected to the internet across 40 countries, with Chromecast and other similar devices predicted to have a considerable impact. However, Android TV looks set to be a much more robust offering than the Chromecast.

The Google I/O technology conference takes place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on 25-26 June 2014.