Google starts using ‘Android TV’ brand

Google is reportedly preparing to ditch its struggling Google TV brand and align its TV efforts more closely with the Android platform.

The US-based GigaOm website, citing an executive from a consumer electronics manufacturer that had been producing Google TV devices, reported that Google was referring to its new strategy as ‘Android TV’.

Google recently ran an ‘Android TV Developer Day’ in Seoul and GigaOm reported that some developers have begun to describe themselves as Android TV rather than Google TV developers in their online biographies. Google TV affiliated manufacturers including Sony, LG and STMicroelectronics have meanwhile begun to downplay the Google TV brand in their marketing materials, referring instead to hardware than enables “Google services on TV”.

Google has been moving to align its platforms for TV and mobile devices for the last few months, with plans for an upgrade of the Google TV platform to version 4.2 of Android scheduled to occur soon, enabling developers to produce applications for both mobile and TV platforms. Google TV manufacturers are also expected to be able upgrade their platforms to the latest version of Android, codenamed KitKat, as it is rolled out. Google has also experienced greater success with the rollout of its Apple TV alternative, ChromeCast, in recent months.

Google launched Google TV three years ago, but the platform, widely seen as complex and unweildy, has struggled to gain consumer acceptance.