Remember Google TV? The Android-powered smart TV software burst onto the scene in 2010 with products from Logitech and Sony, and later on manufacturers like Asus, LG and Vizio joined got in on the Google TV game as well. It's definitely been a while since we've heard any major news regarding Google TV, though, but today a new report claims that Google's cooking up some big changes for its TV platform.
According to GigaOM, Google is planning to give its "Google TV" brand the axe in favor of a new name like as "Android TV." The site claims to have confirmed the change with an executive from a firm that's made Google TV hardware in the past who says that Google now refers to the software as Android TV. It's also said that some developers have started to change their online biographies to reference Android TV rather than Google TV.
The report also mentions that LG may be planning to update its Google TV hardware to Android 4.2 sometime in October, with other manufacturers to follow in the coming months. Google TV is currently based on Android 3.2 Honeycomb, which is obviously a few versions behind the Android 4.3 software that some of the latest Android phones and tablets are running.
Despite the fact that a number of manufacturers have thrown their support behind Google TV with products like set top boxes and televisions, the platform never really seemed to gain much traction with consumers. As I said before, we haven't heard much about Google TV recently, but now it sounds like anyone that may have been concerned that Google TV was meeting its demise can put those fears to rest.
Today's report mentions that the new Google TV branding may not be set in stone quite yet, as the platform has apparently been referred to as both "Android TV" and "Google services for TV." Still, a rebranding couldn't hurt, and I think it'd be smart of Google to try and take advantage of the name recognition that Android has in order to help boost interest in its TV platform. If Google can pair that Android-themed rebrand with a major update to Jelly Bean, it may be able to give Google TV a nice second wind.
Via GigaOM