Google Rebranding Google TV As Android TV
Google TV is dead, long live Android TV: Three years after launching the first generation of Google TV devices, Google is now looking to rid itself of the brand and realign its smart TV platform efforts more closely with Android. The move is part admission that Google TV failed, part hope that Android will eventually find its place in the living room.
Google apparently isn’t quite ready to announce the switch-over yet; a spokesperson contacted for this story declined to comment. However, an executive from a consumer electronics manufacturer that has been producing Google TV devices confirmed the rebranding in a recent conversation with GigaOM, saying: “They are calling it ‘Android TV.’”
Funny … I would have thought that ‘Google’ would be a stronger brand than ‘Android’. I suppose they are trying to position it as a companion to Android phones, like Apple TV is to iPhones. Even so, Apple TV didn’t need to be called ‘iOS TV’ to be successful.