Google Making Android Home Entertainment System

What is Google up to? We've reviewed GoogleTV, even taking a look at several different iterations, including the Logitech Revue GoogleTV and the Sony Google. But apparently that's not the end of where the software giant is going. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal cited sources that were unnamed who claimed Google will be branding its own home entertainment system (read: hardware) and that it will come out this year. Can this be in response to Apple bleeding rumors about an Apple-branded TV? Could Google actually beat the company to the punch? And, more importantly, will it actually be something consumers want to use?

Certainly, Google would be attempting to copy the winning Apple strategy of marrying hardware and software into a perfectly unified system that is free from the defects and glitches introduced by allowing for the common variances in third party manufacturing/licensing and the freedoms that come with it. Now, what makes all of this even more interesting is that Google announced back in August it was spending $12.5 billion dollars (in cash, mind you) to purchase Motorola Mobility. As the Android platform continues to pick up steam in the mobile market - and as more and more of the technology makes its way onto televisions via GoogleTV (which is largely remaining a select option for only a few manufacturers).

Why might this work? Well, for one, Google controls or operates an Internet music service and it controls YouTube - though they have yet to effectively transition that into a system that users take seriously for anything other than home-grown video content. Still, the potential is there, as is the infrastructure. And as for programming prowess - Google has shown to have that in spades (or at least the funds to buy whatever it needs to get the job done). Why may it fail? They're Google, not Apple. So far, they are an amalgam of software and platforms that includes both grand successes and spectacular failures. Android, however, is one of their successes. How else might they fail? They're not Apple and have proven in the past that they are willing to release a product that's not ready for the market (GoogleTV) and for which users don't exactly clamor for more of or stand in line for hours just to get their hands on it. 

If Google can marry the hardware and software in a way that is innovative and disruptive enough to get attention and demand, then perhaps they can come away with something that changes the market. It certainly needs to be changed in our opinion.