Bear in mind that Google TV has been available in the US for sometime now, and according to a recent report by French publication Les Echos, the first Google TV devices will land in Europe this September.
Confirming the news, the reports quoted comments by Sony France marketing director Stephane Labrousse that the CE maker will sell two devices: A set-top box which will go on sale for €200 ($266) and a box with an integrated Blu-ray player that will sell for €300 ($399) at the same time as well. The equipment is slated to go on sale in France, Spain, Germany, and the U.K. and an integrated Blu-ray player for 300 euros ($399), according to GigaOM.
Anyways, the news was previously hinted by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt disclosed Google TV’s rollout to Europe last August and Sony confirmed that two Google TV-compatible set-top boxes would go international during January’s Consumer Electronics Show.
“Our objective is to further the content industry by presenting an open platform for the next generation of TV to evolve, in a much similar way Android is an open platform for the next generation of mobile,” Schmidt said during his August announcement.
Another interesting piece of news worth noting in the article is that the new Sony boxes will apparently have a dedicated “Google Play” button on their remote controls, providing quick access to Google’s content portal, as well as access to Sony’s Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited services. There is also mention of Google Music — currently unavailable outside of the US–though no further details are offered.
This is, however, the first time the company has officially provided a clear timeline for its plans to enter the European market, though one might observe that the European list prices of the devices might seem a bit high. A comparable U.S. Sony Google TV box with Blu-ray runs for $299. Google encountered some problems trying to sell its first batch of Google TV consoles in the U.S. because many consumers thought it was too expensive, which appears to be the same sort of thing that might happen at launch in Europe.
Another important thing worth taking note is that the second generation Google TV devices, which are set to go on sale in the U.S. this year, are manufactured with ARM chips instead of Intel processors, by manufacturers including Sony, Samsung, LG and Vizio. The ARM chips are supposed to bring prices down considerably–but if the new prices in France are any indication, the new chips would not do much to affect price points.
However, the Web giants’ television software platform was designed to bring the Web to conventional television-viewing experiences by integrating users’ TV sets with Internet, cable, and satellite hookups. Some pretty cool features of Google TV include being able to use a smartphone as a remote control, searching the Internet on the TV while watching a show, and creating a home page with app launch icons and TV channels.
Apart from numerous features, the remote controls for the new Sony boxes to sell in Europe will reportedly pick up voice commands to operate the box, according to GigaOM.