REVAMPED GOOGLE TV TO MAKE ITS DEBUT IN THE U.K.

A flop in the U.S., Google TV is coming to the U.K. next month — this time with a revamped settop box made by Sony and the ability to do far more than merely watch movies and TV shows streamed over the Internet. In fact, reports indicate that consumers will be able to use the Android-based unit as if it were one of its cloud-based Chromebooks. The keyboard is built into the back side of the remote. Britain’s Guardian newspaper noted today (Monday) that Google is trying to build on the lessons it learned in the U.S. where it launched a few years ago, only to shut down in 2010 after one quarter where more Google TV boxes were returned than sold. It quoted Suveer Kothari, Google’s head of global TV distribution, as saying, “We think there’s going to be huge benefits from bringing the Internet to TV. Google TV attempts to address the problem that there’s not really a great experience to access the Internet on your TV screen.” Analysts agreed that the biggest stumbling block Google will have to overcome is the device’s price — $300 to $450.