I, like a lot of gadget obsessed people, was intrigued by the google announcement of their ChromeCast device. It will probably upset most of the content providers to the point that they will put restrictions on it (I agree with Mr Kafka's assessment of what content providers reactions are going to be).
Not going to re-hash it hear other than to say it plugs into your TV's HDMI port and then allows you to display stuff from your Google device (tablet, phone, chromebook, etc) onto the TV. It has an amazing price point: $35. It will eventually work with all Google Android and HTML5 based apps.
It's basically going to be Google's 3rd attempt at getting mobile and web content onto the TV. First there was Google TV which didn't take off. It was cool, but not cool enough. It's still around, but it's kind of an afterthought since most smart TV's already do what it did for you. Next came the Nexus Q which was another flop. So much so that the google play service doesn't even work with it anymore. Now we have the ChromeCast.
The initial user reports coming in are all overwhelmingly positive, but they were pretty positive for the first two attempts too. Here's why I think it's going to be a hit: Price point. It's so cheap people will buy one even if they're not 100% sure they'll use it. There are a truckload more android phones out there than before. It's very simple, no wires, adapters or power cords.
Apple has it's version of this technology called AirPlay, which as been around for a while. It didn't get a whole lot of traction. The ability to stream music from my iMac to my Airport Express was neat, but not the ultimate solution. Then came the AppleTV. Ok, little cooler, now I can play to my TV speakers, both audio and video. Add iPhones to that mix, and it started to take off a lot more. My kids and their friends make videos on the iPad and then instinctively know how to double tap and bring up the output selector and stream their new creation to the TV instead of huddling around the small screen. I also have an iHome W3 portable speaker I recently acquired to play music from my phone, tablet or PC.
Here's one interesting aspect of AirPlay that I don't think Chromcast can match in it's current incarnation. On both my AppleTV and W3 speakers I have control buttons (a remote for the AppleTV, they're built into the W3speaker). If I press those buttons while someone is streaming to the device, the remote presses are sent to the streaming device. So if my phone is in the charger up stairs playing music to the speaker in the kitchen, I can play, pause, volume up/volume down with out having to go to the source device. I think that's missing in the ChromeCast device. How many people have a phone charger on the couch with them so they can keep their phone with them while it's streaming without worrying about battery? The notion of the phone/tablet being the player and the remote is going to present some battery life issues for people who don't charge their phone in the same room as they chromecast. It's still going to sell like crazy though. It's already sold so many that google has stopped the 3 months of free Netflix promotion.
Posted with Blogsy
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