IFA 2010 – BERLIN. WATCH VIDEO. Google TV will be introduced in the US before the end of the year, but the service will not hit Europe until 2011, we learned during the closing session of this year’s IFA. Speaking before a packed house, Eric Schmidt, Google chairman of the board and CEO, said Google TV in the US will include a Google TV Marketplace. A European launch will take place sometime during 2011. As reported by Broadband TV News, Sony will be the official launch partner for Google TV. The company was shwoing the first Google TV sets in Berlin.
Schmidt couldn’t resist dishing up the latest YouTube statistics (“think about it, they are pretty amazing”): there are 300 million visitors a day, 2 billion view per day, 160 mobile views and 24 hours of video uploaded every minute. Income is also going up: there are 2 billion monetised views a week; the number of advertisers was up 50% from last year.
In the US, Google TV will launch in the US with three products; a full HDTV set from Sony, a Sony Blu-ray player and a set=top box from Logitech. Android-powered smartphones and the Apple iPhone can be used as remote control devices for GoogleTV, and also a remote with Voicesearch is in the planning. Other territories will roll out later, but there is not yet a definite schedule.
During the presentation by Britanny Bohnet, product marketing manager Google TV, no live demo was given, but just a simulation recreating the Google TV experience.
Schmidt was introduced by Jens Heithecker, executive director of IFA, who looked back at the first IFA Kaynote 80 years ago: “That echoed the 1930 Keynote by Albert Einstein. Einstein was talking about radio, the new technology of the time. He said ‘technology enables communication and communication connects people.'”
A video of the Eric Schmidt keynote and following product presentation is available on-demand from IFA.TV (duration over 1 hour; Google TV presentation starts at around 32 minutes into the keynote) by clicking here.
