Google TV, Bravia Internet Video Platforms to Co-Exist in Sony Line

Sony’s Google TV and Bravia Internet Video will coexist as connectivity platforms in the Sony line as part of a two-prong strategy targeting separate price segments, Mike Abary, senior vice president of home entertainment Americas, said following a news conference late Tuesday in New York.

The new Google LCD TVs, the result of 18 months of development, will be positioned at a premium to Sony’s core Bravia Internet Video-based sets, Abary said. The Google TV non-3D NSX line consists of 24- ($599), 32- ($799), 40- ($999) and 46-inch ($1,399) along with the NSZ-GT1 Blu-ray player ($399). The TVs and Blu-ray player will go on sale at Sony Style stores this weekend and will be available Oct. 24 at Best Buy. The Google TVs will be featured in a separate display at Best Buy near the TV/home theater section, Abary said.

While Sony expects 70-75 percent of its TVs to be Internet-capable this year, it will keep Bravia Internet Video and Google TV models separate for now, Abary said. Sony will pursue a dual-strategy largely because Google TV sets carry a higher component cost, including a 1.5 GHz Intel CE4100 Atom processor that typically sells for $30-$50. Sony presumably will pay royalties to Google. Abary declined to comment on the terms of Sony’s agreement with Google. Sony is working with Google on developing targeted ads for the platform, Abary said. Sony introduced its Internet service several years ago in a module that attached to its TVs.

Bravia Internet Video will “continue to be a platform and it’s Internet in bite-size chunks,” Abary said. “It’s applications and not the entire Internet like that which is offered with Google TV. It belongs on all of our core platforms. We're offering access to the Internet in as many ways as possible."

The Google TV platform is designed around the Android operating system and Chrome browser, which allows for searching of a DVR, electronic program guide or Internet. The 1080p sets have 8 GB of flash memory, about 5 GB of which is consumed by the Google TV OS, Google officials have said. With a small amount of storage capacity, Sony’s TVs can’t be used to store content such as downloaded movies, Abary said. But the TVs are DLNA-compliant so could be linked to a PC to store content, he said. While there may come a time when Google TVs could store full-length movies in memory, “this is really cloud-based so storing locally isn’t necessarily our core endeavor,” Abary said. The TVs are paired with a handheld RF QWERTY keypad remote that has an optical mouse. The TVs also can be controlled by Android-based cellphones using application software that will be available through Android Market this fall.

Google TV users also will be able to bookmark favorite content and about a dozen software applications have been pre-installed including Facebook, Netflix, the NBA, Pandora, Picasa, Twitter and YouTube. Google will release a software development kit in early 2011 to spur development, Google officials said. The Google TV platform isn’t currently capable of searching DVRs other than those released by Google partner Dish Network, but adding MSOs’ models to the mix is “something we are looking at in terms of compatibility,” Abary said. The TVs also can search the Internet for TV programs.

While Sony has been a strong 3D TV proponent that technology will be on equal-footing with Google in terms of company focus, Abary said. While 3D stretches across Sony’s many divisions, the Google initiative is largely limited to TVs and other video products, Abary said. With the arrival of Google TV, coupled with already available 3D and other Internet-connected sets, there is ample opportunity for consumers to become confused during the upcoming holiday selling season, Abary said. “As an industry we all need to do a better job of minimizing consumer confusion because technology inside the TV industry has happened so quickly that we've done nothing but confuse the consumer,” Abary said. “Sony will take the first stand to minimize that confusion by making sure people understand that technology in a very simple and understandable way. We're trying not to overlap potentially competing technologies like 3D, Internet connectivity and LED design."

In selecting Best Buy to launch Google TV, Sony was swayed by the chain’s in-store ability to deliver 10 Gbps broadband speeds to drive platform demos, Abary said. While specialty CE chains typically have similar broadband services, Sony “wasn’t sure that all retailers had that capability,” Abary said. “That’s why we're limiting distribution of it because we control the consumer experience in the store."

As it rolls out Google, Sony also has carved out about 10 feet of “golden space” at three retailers during the past two months that will be used to display Sony products. The new displays are unrelated to the Google product, Abary said. About 10 stores combined in the American TV, Ultimate Electronics and Fry’s chains have installed demonstration areas that cobble together Sony LED-backlit LCD TVs, 5.1 surround systems, PS3 consoles and the NEX-3 and NEX-5 3D digital cameras, he said. Store staffers assigned to the display areas undergo a week of Sony product training in San Diego and get incentives to sell the company’s gear, Abary said. The first training session was completed last week, he said. The new demos represent a break from Sony’s previous store-within-a-store format that was introduced several years ago. “It’s purely a Sony initiative and that store-within-a-store format will be a little more cooperative,” he said.