Todd Spangler of Multichannel News argues that Google TV may be making the same mistake with cable companies and customers that TiVo did back in its early days. Which is to say,
1) “The new device is external to the cable/satellite set-top box and controls it using an IR blaster (i.e., it’s a non-integrated kludge and requires space in the entertainment center);”
2) “The technorati understand it — and quickly figure out they want it — but most TV viewers don’t want the extra cost and hassle of hooking it up.”
But, and this is the important one, unlike TiVo, he argues that the Google TV doesn’t really add anything to the TV viewing experience. While I’ve liked the idea of Google TV, I’m also one of those ‘technorati,’ he’s talking about. For the rest of his argument, read the rest of Spangler’s Google TV column.