What Will Be Google TV’s Killer App?
Let’s face it: Companies like Google and Apple invest fortunes into building platforms like Android and iOS — but when it comes to consumers embracing these platforms, it often comes down to one single killer app. It’s the app that you fire up to show off your new phone to your friends. Or the app that you took for granted at first, only to eventually realize that it completely changed the way you interact with a device.
For many early iPhone users, this was Google Maps and the way it made use of the touch screen. For G1 owners and other early Android adopters, it may have been the barcode scanner. And for today’s Android-loving masses, it’s Google’s turn-by-turn navigation.
Google is scheduled to launch the Android marketplace on Google TV devices in early 2011, which will potentially add a lot of new functionality to existing and future Google TV devices. So what will be Google TV’s killer app? Here are three possible candidates:
Shazam
London-based Shazam has been offering mobile phone applications to identify music for close to a decade now. The idea is simple: Want to know the title of a song you’re hearing? Just take out your phone, fire up Shazam, record a few seconds, and immediately have your handset tell you song title, band name and other details, complete with a link to buy the song online. The company has been hugely successful with this and passed the mark of one billion identified songs in May.
Of course, chances are, you’re hearing the song on TV. So why would you even deal with your cell phone, instead of simply pressing the Shazam button on your remote control?
Shazam uses acoustic fingerprinting to identify the songs you hear, but this type of technology isn’t limited to music recognition. The company has already been striking collaborations with TV networks like Syfy and HBO to get viewers to engage with content. Most recently, viewers were able to unlock special content for Syfy’s shows Eureka and Warehouse 13.
One could imagine a ton of other use cases for acoustic fingerprinting of TV content, many of which have to do with advertising. Why not measure the shows as well as ads a viewers is watching across all networks and content sources with the help of Shazam, and then personalize their ad experience based on these viewing patterns?
Karaoke
I have to credit none other than Google TV Product lead Rishi Chandra for this idea. Asked how the killer app for Google TV will look like, he told me during an interview in October that he sees a lot of potential for “social experiences that you have in the living room, things that you want to share with other people.” He added: “Why couldn’t karaoke be a great application?” Check out the full interview for more:
I really like this idea, despite not being that much into karaoke myself. There’s something very compelling about the idea that a device like Google TV doesn’t just play video you’d passively watch, be it from the web or your cable company. Instead, there will be applications that will allow you to create, manipulate and mash up content. Karaoke is just one example — one could also imagine video remixes, simple collaborative video editing tools or even game shows shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? extending the experience into the living room with the help of special apps.
Mystery Science Theater
The power of meta-data still remains largely untapped in the world of online video. Google TV has a unique opening in this space because it’s able to engage with both online and cable content. Imagine you’re watching an episode of The Simpsons, complete with a collaboratively edited subtitle that explains all the pop-cultural and Simpsons-specific references. Or imagine if a running commentary of hardcore fans had been available to make some sense of those final Lost episodes.
Google TV wouldn’t be the first platform to offer this types of metadata-based commentary: The folks at Joost and others tried to get something like this off the ground before. But there has until now been a sort of chicken-and-egg problem, in that you need a lot of content to make this type of commentary valuable to end users, but no one will add content if there’s no audience for it.
Luckily, Google wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel: Remember Google Wave and the way one could play back waves to catch up on discussions? Now imagine you catch up on an episode of Glee recorded on your DVR, and Google TV plays back all of Glee-related tweets your friends sent out when the episode originally aired, precisely times so that each and every tweet relates to the scene you’re currently watching. It’s like your very own Mystery Science Theater.
Got your own idea for a Google TV killer app? Feel free to share it in the comments.
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This question has been posed over and over again in InteractiveTV for the past 12 years and the final answer was and remains TV is the killer Application for TV. We have delivered Karaoe since 2004 on interactive TV in Skylife and it proves to be popular but its certainly no killer app even in a country that loves Karaoke. The author cites Shazam? That means you are presumably listening to radio throgh your TV and suddenly need to identify a song…most people would smartphone that…if its a TV music show there are hosts, announcers and visual banners that tell you about the singer and song…TV is used to already deliver a lot of extra information. All the screen clutter of so called Apps detracts from the purpose of TV. TV on handhelds and smart phones is a failure. Everything has its place and Google is blinded by the search for new things to do other than search. You dont need a complex and over engineered device to watch internet TV you need descent available content that is fresh, new and entertaining…stuff you have already seen is called repeats in the UK and its continual repeats that turn people off.
Anthony, there’ a lot of music on TV outside of American Idol and radio-like programming. Movies have soundtracks, and TV shows have become increasingly important for bands both as revenue stream as well as a way to find new fans. The WB has been particularly successful with this, but even they can only feature one band per episode. Shazam could take this relationship to a whole new level.
One word: Content.
Absolutely. Content is TV’s killer app.
I’m not sure that interactive search makes for a good TV interface. However, Google has the opportunity to seamlessly integrate passive search results with the TV experience. Maybe call it “Google instant for TV”:
While watching political debates they could provide overlay contextual information from factcheck.org or the Congressional Budget Office; during ads allow consumers to read the fineprint associated with the ad; even better yet show the reputation of the company behind the product with data from the Better Business Bureau.
Another option to overlaying this directly on the TV, is to stream the data to your mobile device while watching TV so you can explore the data and links without affecting the TV experience.
As the former GM of Interactive/Enhanced TV at Turner Broadcasting, my view may be in the minority but it is informed by experience. I believe the best approach is one that enhances the utterly and satisfyingly passive experience of TV. The greatest advancements of the past 10 years with TV have only increased our satisfaction with the experience of beautiful images rendered more perfect, from flatter screens, with better HD, to now 3D images.
I’m reminded of Sting’s observation many years ago about the pause between
the notes being as important as the actual notes chosen.
I predict the killer apps will be minimally intrusive, but ever-present and changing, something akin to Appstream, which will complement our viewing like that of the ever-present stock-ticker on CNBC.
Honestly the best opportunity for an application doesn’t come from individuals but companies. Specifically cable companies. The idea of an al-a-carte veiwing experience is why I am buying one. I want to rid myself of useless programming and commercials and honestly this seems like the only opportunity for that to happen. Shows that have true fan loyalty will have direct funding from the viewers. This way we can have more control of what we see and what we don’t.