GOOGLE TV ADMITS IT’S NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME

On virtually the eve of its introduction of its Google TV Web-to-TV software, Google has told television manufacturers who had planned to integrate it into their new TV sets that the software is not ready and has asked them to delay their introductions, the New York Times said today (Monday). The report indicated that the manufacturers were particularly upset given Google’s previous decision to delay release of its “cloud” computer operating system. The new delay, the newspaper observed, only serves to magnify problems for Google’s latest efforts. NBC, CBS and ABC have already put in place blocking software that will prevent users of Google TV from watching their shows via their websites on the new television sets. In its report about the latest delay, the Times observed that “it illustrates the struggles Google faces as it tries to expand into the tricky, unfamiliar realm of consumer electronics, and drum up broad interest in a Web-based TV product that consumers want.”