Google Inc. is planning to introduce Android-based television software to developers at an event in May, according to people familiar with the matter.
The technology—designed to open set-top boxes, TVs and other devices to more content from the Internet—is attracting interest from partners that include Sony Corp., Intel Corp. andLogitech International SA, which are expected to offer products that support the software, these people said. None have so far discussed the efforts publicly.
Google, of Mountain View, Calif., is currently planning on sharing some details about the technology with more than 3,000 developers expected to attend its Google I/O conference in San Francisco May 19 and 20. One person familiar with the matter cautioned the company could also decide to delay discussing it until the technology is more mature. Google uses the annual conference to showcase a range of technologies of interest to developers.
The decision to address developers suggests that the Internet giant may be hoping to kick-start a race to build applications for its TV platform, much in the same way that Google,Apple Inc. and others have courted developers for smartphones.
The app-store approach has already begun to gain traction among some players in the TV market, too, aided by the advent of TVs, Blu-ray players and other hardware with Internet connections.
But before developers invest in TV apps from Google, they'll want to see significant adoption of the software among hardware makers. Intel, the dominant player in chips for PCs, has been trying for years to play a bigger role in set-top boxes, with its efforts focusing lately around a chip called Atom that is used in low-end laptop PCs called netbooks.
People familiar with the matter said Sony has agreed to use a version of Atom in forthcoming products that include TVs and a set-top box. One of them said that while many of the company's product roadmaps will include Google software based on Android, Sony is not betting exclusively on the technology.
Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Sony is planning to announce devices using the Google software and Intel chips at the Google conference.
Meanwhile, Google is continuing a very limited test of a television search service with Dish Network Corp, according to people familiar with the matter. The service, which uses the new Google technology, allows users to access and search across programming from the Internet as well as Dish's conventional programming, these people said. The test, which began last year, is still limited to a very small number of the company's employees and their families.
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