Today, Google TV officially announced its latest iteration for LG sets (and beyond soon) and it boils down to this: Finding your show fast. From TechCrunch:
Google TV is adding a new feature that could make it easier for users to search and navigate all the different content on various video applications, without having to use keypads or clunky text interfaces. It’s also rebranding its digital video store PrimeTime, as a way to entice users to shop for — and buy — movies and TV shows on their devices.
It's no secret that Google struggled coming out of the TV box two years ago. The critics arrived early and often and have persisted. The issues ranged widely from controls to content to device, but Casey Newton at c|net concludes today, "Google's latest moves show a willingness to listen to consumers' frustration and work to build a better TV."
If that's true, then give some of the credit to Mario Queiroz, Google vice president of Product Management and head of Google TV. In this email interview, Queiroz discusses how Google is working to improve the product, how the TV space has changed the past two years and the variety of angles that Google is using to find its market.
What were the important lessons from the first iteration of Google TV?
We learned a lot from our viewers and our partners after of Google TV was introduced in October 2010. Our v2 that launched one year later, delivered on four themes. Make the experience simpler — give viewers the shortest path to content. Make it easy to find great content — improvements to TV Search and a customized browsing experience providing access to more than 100,000 TV episodes and movie titles. Make YouTube more like TV — make the most comprehensive YouTube experience on any smart TV product; going to YouTube should be as easy as changing channels on your TV. Bring the app movement to TV — viewers love apps on their phones and tablets, and the TV is next with Google TV bringing the full power of Google Play and Chrome to the living room. We’re still in the early miles of this marathon, and we’re learning from our viewers and partners all the time.
Outside of your own R&D, what has changed about the TV space since then?
In 2010 when Google TV first launched, streaming content was just starting to gather momentum. That year HBOGo launched, Netflix signed several major studio deals for streaming, and Crackle started expanding internationally. As we integrate great streaming services into your TV experience and add to them — like the addition of Google Play Movies, Music and TV — we’re also working on a comprehensive, fast and precise discovery experience. With YouTube becoming more integrated into Google TV, the importance of great search and discovery increases by orders of magnitude.
What's the balance between technology and content in creating the right kind of TV experience?
Across Google we’re working on technology that enables the consumption of great content in a friction-free manner. On Google TV, this translates to an experience that’s getting simpler and easier all the time. For example, open the TV & Movies app to browse for something to watch. You pick Mythbusters, and you’re given options to watch on live through your TV service provider or stream on demand from services like Google Play, all with a single click. Whatever you choose, the technology does the heavy lifting so that you get to the content faster and easier.
Sometimes tech writing reminds me of sports journalism. And I've often wondered what it's like for the developers to read the kind of criticism Google TV got.
The average living room has a combination of legacy and new technology, like a five-year-old TV, a two-year-old set-top box and a new streaming box. At the center of all of it is the content you care about coming from lots of different sources, so making a simple and powerful viewer experience in this setting is a big challenge. Compare that to your phone. Five years ago there was no content on your phone beyond numbers and a few ring tones. Entertainment on your phone was a green field, so smartphones redefined how you consume content on your mobile device. Smart TV technology is marrying the old with the new, and that can be more challenging. We’re convinced that we will succeed by bringing lots of improvements to Google TV and moving quickly.
I’m a huge football/soccer fan, and would explain it like this — there’s no silver bullet to winning the World Cup. You win by working with your team over long hours, through lots of creativity, and above all by staying focused on the big goal. We’re happy about the progress we’ve made to bring lots of entertainment to our viewers and making it easy for them to discover the entertainment they love, and it’s only going to get better.
Many of the latest Google TV devices seem to be focused on set-top boxes at lower price points. Where does this leave televisions directly powered by your technology?
Google TV enables partners to integrate our services into the best devices for their viewers. Partners like Vizio and Sony offer set-top boxes at increasingly lower prices, LG is seeing success integrating our services into 3D TVs, and we just recently announced our first integration with an IPTV set-top box from LG U+. In coming months, expect to see Google TV coming in more devices, at more price points in more countries. Whatever the device, the Google TV services will keep updating to bring viewers more content and making it easier for them to discover it and enjoy it.
