Google TV Will Win if They Take Advantage of Partnerships
In the past, Digital Fewsure was very optimistic for other Google products like the WAVE. We know...We know... We were wrong. Just 6 months after glowing with excitement for the Wave and claiming it will change email forever, we published a story about Why the Wave Failed. Our optimism was nothing more than tech-happy hype that Google placed in us. So will be the next product that Google releases we will be wrong about? Well it won't be Google TV.
Google TV is a new product set for a fall launch and is Google's first attempt at entering the competitive Television market. What makes this market entry different? PARTNERSHIPS
Through contracted deals with Sony and Blu-Ray, Google has partners that are ready to support their push for TV. The contracts themselves are the first aspect of the deal that gives Google TV and edge over past product failures. Sony will be releasing a TV that is dedicated to the Android platform that Google TV will run on and Best Buy has agreed to sell the product in their stores.
Let's do the math - Sony + Blu-Ray + Best Buy = Success. These 3 partners are leaders within their industry and when you combine them together with a new product that offers consumers something "cool" - you are bound to see some success in terms of mass market hype. Best Buy much like Apple, is known for making people want products that they don't need. Google TV is just that. So if the partnerships are deep enough that Sony and Best Buy are willing to incorporate Google TV within their own marketing, you can expect a line of customers to be anticipating this new "tech" product.
Whether or not it succeeds is is based off of marketing from Google and their partners. The primary reason for the fall of Google Wave in my eyes, was the lack of mass marketing it received. Outside of a online PR buzz, the Wave had very little wind at its back to push it forward. If the partnerships go well, not only will Google move their little engine of marketing forward but they will have the giant marketing engines of Best Buy, Sony and Blu-Ray on the train tracks as well. That's a huge gust of wind! Okay enough of the cheesy real-world comparisons.
Another winner in all of this could be the first to market Google box made by Logitech - The Revue.
Logitech is by no means a mass marketing gorilla, but they are another company that has a marketing budget that they may want to use on a GOOGLE-associated product. Logitech has nothing to lose in this deal, as this could be a big break for them in the digital converter market. Therefore, we expect Logitech to dump a lot of their budget into this project with some obvious help from Google along the way.
The only partnership loophole that Google has to jump through now is with the networks. Apparently these kind of partnership conversations have not been going that well, Google TV - Struggling to Find Partners. But we have reason to believe that one of the major players will bite before the Fall launch.
Since we have yet to work with Google TV, we ask that you forgive us if technical or usability problems burn this product to the ground. As long as Google lives up to its user-friendly identity, expect Google TV to be the next big product line for the company and NOT FAIL. Apple TV is set to compete with Google in the near future...it will be interesting to see how both differentiate from the other.
See you in 6 months we are writing an article about how to market your business on the popular Google TV platform.