Android has announced that they are entering the streaming television market. Roku, Google Chrome, and Apple TV have been offering this service for sometime now and the Android TV Box doesn’t appear to improve on any of the three’s designs. The one thing that the Android TV Box does have is four USB ports.
Apple TV first entered the market in 2010 and several companies have followed suit. Most notably Roku, which delivered essentially the same streaming services for the lower price tag of 79.99 Then, earlier this year, Google made headlines with the Chromecast stick which can be wirelessly hooked up to virtually any tablet, phone, or laptop.
The Android TV box resembles the Apple TV almost identically, they are both sleek boxes with their logo emblazoned on the top. The Android TV box offers a robust remote which in my opinion is far better than the simplicity of the Apple TV remote which I am currently using as I type out this blog post.
Despite it’s benefits I doubt this product will be a success, when Google announced it’s Chromecast Tech blogs like mashable and techcrunch were giddy at this new service. The announcement of the Android TV was met with little fanfare and virtually no coverage.
Additionally, why would they launch this service so late during the holiday season. Now Android is even missing out on the old fogeys who would purchase the wrong service for their kids.