LG Will Launch a Google TV in the U.S. Later This Month

I have long thought that this would be the year that Google TV made its push into the market as a strong contender for internet television products. Google has made it abundantly clear that it wants to be our home entertainment system and as companies continue to develop internet-enabled TVs with Google’s TV platform that may very well be the case. Well LG, the second largest tv maker in the world, has decided to throw its hat into the ring. Today it announced that it is launching a Google TV starting in the week of May 21st. Ro Seogho, Executive Vice President of LG’s TV Business Unit had this to say:

“Production of Google TVs will start from May 17 from our factory in Mexico and U.S. consumers will be able to buy the product from the week of May 21.”

This move appears to be an aggressive push by the company to get into the market early before Apple releases its rumored full-fledge Apple Television product later this year. Europe and Asia could see an LG Google television too depending on how well they sell in the U.S. Given Google TV’s ability to access many Google services such as YouTube and the ability to search right from your television screen it could do well if properly executed.

Google’s first attempt at marketing Google TV did not take off as fast as they had hoped and Google looked to rectify that with its second version. This lack of success stems partly from a lack of motivation from hardware manufacturers in combination with a lack of web content. However this appears to be no longer the case as LG and Samsung are looking to push their own Internet-enabled TV platforms as well as the Google TV platform. Given that research firm IHS iSuppli estimates that the market for Internet-enabled TVs will grow 60 percent to 95 million sets this year it appears that hardware manufacturers are actually quite motivated to push this newer technology.

As an owner of an HDTV from LG I can say that I would be interested in seeing what LG is offering, however LG has yet to give word on shipment targets or details in regards to pricing and screen sizes. So like the rest of you, I am just as much in the dark.  We will certainly keep you folks out there apprised of LG’s Google TV as we find out more. Stay tuned!