Google TV to take off?
Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility has focused on the patent advantages this gives Google, as well as the competitive advantages it presents the company by providing a grip on the handset market to challenge the likes of Apple.
However by acquiring Motorola Mobility, Google has bought its way into TV as well. Motorola Mobility is the second largest maker of set top boxes that US cable operators lend out to subscribers. Which means Google is able to control the manufacturing of these boxes and the software that runs inside. It has effectively got itself into the TVs of tens of millions of US viewers. How Google innovates in this area will be interesting.
The internet can be accessed pretty much any place and anywhere and Google aims to be wherever it can be accessed. As the internet becomes a ubiquitous plaform, so does Google.
As the new information distribution ecosystem expands through mobiles, tablet pcs, and TVs, the distribution of news and information is going to become more rapid, pervasive and potentially more intense. That presents challenges to all those organisations and policy makers that have a stake in creating and managing news and their reputations.
