Google apparently thinks Apple can succeed where no other company has and is jumping at the chance to be part of its iTV device.
When Google CEO Eric Schmidt joined the board of directors at Apple last month, industry experts and insiders could smell that something was cooking between the two companies.
Now reports are surfacing about a couple of possible business deals allegedly being discussed, possible the most significant of which — to consumers anyway — is that Google would become the primary provider of video content for Apple’s recently announced but still unreleased iTv set-top box.
Google Hearts Apple
When most people think of Google they likely think of a search engine. But the company also offers loads of other content including videos from Google Video, an interactive map of the world at Google Earth and e-mail at G-mail.
Apple could be interested in all or just a few of the company’s many offerings.
iTV, which was previewed at Apple’s special press conference recently, broadcasts media content stored on a computer on a TV screen. Google apparently wants to supply Apple with video clips for the player.
The iTV device, due to be released early next year at a price of around $299, allows users to watch video files stored on their PC on their televisions. The kit consist of a video streaming player which uses wireless technology to play video on a TV. It gives owners the power to break their music, movies, TV shows and other content free from the confines of the home computer or handheld, and stream that content to a TV set.
The product is Apple’s attempt to bridge the gap between the PC and television.
Google’s consumer product chief, Marissa Mayer, told Newsweek that the two companies are “engaged in talks”.
"Google and all its competitors are focused on a three-screen approach right now, whether you are accessing them or their content on a computer screen, on some kind of a handheld product or on your high-definition TV," explained Ross Rubin, an analyst with the NPD Group.
Rubin says collaboration between Apple and Google could take many forms, but will likely be all about getting Google content onto televisions.
Apple’s hope is that the device will inspire people to start downloading films and video, rather than buying DVDs to play in a standalone DVD player.
The capabilities of the device are broadly similar to Wintel set top boxes already on the market but, as with the iPod, Apple hopes to ignite the home "convergence" entertainment market.
Mainstream Market
While a host of other devices are already on the market with similar capabilities, none has managed to succeed in the mainstream market.
Microsoft has been geared towards gaining access to the world’s living rooms for some time with the Windows Media Center operating system and the integration of various Windows-based and Microsoft products like the Xbox 360 video game console.
Other companies have developed set-top boxes like iTV to speed the convergence of digital media stored on a computer with the home entertainment system, but none have been too successful.
Even Microsoft, whose Xbox360 console can be used as a “media extender” when used with Windows Media Center Edition or Vista, offers all of the announced features of the planned iTV box and can also stream live TV programming, if the PC being used is equipped with a TV tuner card.
But there are no official figures on how many of the estimated 16 million Media Center edition owners use an Xbox 360 in this fashion.
“Everyone who has tried this before has failed,” said Apple boss Steve Jobs during the unveiling of the iTV device.
"You are going to have this Internet-connected device attached to potentially a high-definition TV very capable of high resolution display of text and other kinds of multimedia," Ross said. "To the extent that the PC is directly or indirectly connected to the TV in the home — that provides an opportunity to any content provider."
That is all well and good but it is hard to see the market for media devices, such as Apple’s iTV, taking off until content providers make downloading movie and TV shows an easier and cheaper alternative to renting or buying DVDs. Prices and download speeds are not yet attractive enough to persuade anyone but tech-enthusiasts to get on board.
Neither Apple nor Google had any comment for this story, but regardless of what the two may or may not have planned, for Google, it would represent a way for the company to jump out of the Internet and into living rooms.