New York — For all the cool stuff to start hitting shelves this season, Sony has just dispatched an invitation for a New York City press event slated for October 12 that promises the official unveiling of its Google TV-capable Bravia line, “the world’s first Internet Television.”
Sony will be holding a press conference on October 12 in New York to reveal the new televisions — just in time for the holidays, and dispatched invites for a New York based event went out to journalists late on Friday night:
“Please join us as Sony introduces the World’s First Internet Television” reads the invite.
Sony’s “Internet Television” is one of the inaugural home video products that will incorporate built-in support for Google TV, the new Web video service from the search engine giant that promises to integrate Google search and any Web-based Flash video directly into the TV. Sony has lately been functioning with Google to get their Google TV technology baked directly into new flat panel televisions, and now they are about to be unveiled.
Although Sony has already showcased the “World’s First Internet Television” at the Google I/O conference in May, and later at its stand at IFA in Berlin, but the BRAVIA television model has yet to get a more formal launch. In addition to the Sony TV, there have been persistent rumors of a Google TV-enabled Sony Blu-ray player as well.
However, the request suggests just one model as the “first Internet Television” and reveals a glimpse of a new look that combines the monolithic design of existing sets with a new wireframe stand. Sony does not exposed any clues as to features but expects to have live demos.
Most of the capabilities are likely to be those coming directly from Google itself. The Google TV platform delivers live searching of both the web and supported set-top boxes, such as the programming guide and the DVR. It operates on Android and will support third-party apps, but most activity will happen in a full Chrome browser with support for Flash.
Sir Howard Stringer confirmed at the time that Sony would be launching the television in the States before the year was out. Furthermore, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Philips and Toshiba will all be scratching their head as to how their Internet ready televisions are not already just that.
Also, search engine leader Google has yet to declare an official date for the release of its new TV set top box however, the company has always said that it would officially unveil the service in the US in time for the Holidays with a global roll-out expected in 2011.
Although Sony is so far the only company to have lined up for a fully integrated TV. But surely, Sony products will compete head-to-head with the Google TV-powered Logitech Revue set-top box, which is also scheduled to be released this fall.
Meanwhile, stay tune as we will be covering the news as it happens on the big day, and we are anticipating that we will be getting details on pricing and availability on Sony’s products. For Sony and Google, it is surely a case of the sooner, the better.