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Only 1 Million Google TV Devices in Use
Half of Those Are Discontinued Revue Units
It was kind of clear that Google TV landed with a bit of a thud, when Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca recently stated their launch of the Google TV powered Revue was "a mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature," and that Google's product was a glorified beta. But how big of a thud? Janko Roettgers dug through some data to find out that there's less than a million Google TV devices currently in use, and about half of those are the discontinued Revue. That of course won't include those who bought Google TV devices and never turned them on for some reason, but it doesn't paint a very flattering picture of an effort Google hoped would revolutionize television.
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inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

inteller

Member

that's still a lot of devices

stop comparing numbers to Android and other crap. a lot of companies would die for a million users.

aaronwt
Premium Member
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
Asus RT-AX89

aaronwt

Premium Member

Re: that's still a lot of devices

yes, a million sounds like a lot to me for that type of device. Although I was one of the people that purchased that POS Revue. It was the worst media player I had ever used. I returned it a few weeks later. The only thing good about it was the wireless keyboard.

norbert26
Premium Member
join:2010-08-10
Warwick, RI

norbert26

Premium Member

Re: that's still a lot of devices

i was one of the suckers that ran out and bought the POS revue at full bend over and spread em no Vaseline @ $300 ! I used it for a time (about 6-8 months) and there were no more useful updates. In fact the forced updates were just downgrades designed to prevent rooting of the device. I since became disgusted and the unit is in the bottom of a closet. Never even bothered with the honeycomb update. Rest assured it will be the last time i buy a POS like that again.
zefie
join:2007-07-18
Hudson, NY

zefie to inteller

Member

to inteller
I believe that is more subscribers than WebTV/MSNTV ever had in its entire run, so GoogleTV isn't doing too bad...

inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

inteller

Member

Re: that's still a lot of devices

ah WebTV...thanks for the memories....or nightmares as it were.

sk1939
Premium Member
join:2010-10-23
Frederick, MD

sk1939

Premium Member

Re: that's still a lot of devices

You laugh, but I still know people that use WebTV as their primary connection to the WWW in this day and age.
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr

Premium Member

Re: that's still a lot of devices

said by sk1939:

You laugh, but I still know people that use WebTV as their primary connection to the WWW in this day and age.

I sold my original webtv on ebay for over 100$ Their is some strange cult of people who love these devices, on that note if you ever find one and it works post it up and make some money!

WebTv was cool though , especially for the time, it was a better internet appliance than anything we have now. (as far as tv devices go).

aztecnology
O Rly?
Premium Member
join:2003-02-12
Murrieta, CA

aztecnology to inteller

Premium Member

to inteller
said by inteller:

stop comparing numbers to Android and other crap. a lot of companies would die for a million users.

Since they decided to go head to head with Apple TV (3 million units, 1 million in the last quarter), et al, it is a meaningful comparison. Maybe google can ship all the returned Revue's to Kansas City...
axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC

axus

Member

My parents had a Roku, it was pretty cool

I've never seen a Google TV or seen one advertised. Nobody knows about it, you'd think Google has enough advertising power that they would have changed that.

I'd heard of Roku, and if my parents got one I'm sure other people have. Tivo had the biggest brand, I guess Netflix is now the big guy.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: My parents had a Roku, it was pretty cool

said by axus:

you'd think Google has enough advertising power that they would have changed that.

It was a Google test that failed. Think of it as Apple and its Apple TV being a "hobby". Until either company are seriously able to monetize content on the TV and successfully compete with incumbent video distributors, I wouldn't expect much to change.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO

nunya

MVM

Roku

Google needs to get their head out of their ass if they are serious about TV and embrace Roku.

Corehhi
join:2002-01-28
Bluffton, SC

Corehhi

Member

Re: Roku

said by nunya:

Google needs to get their head out of their ass if they are serious about TV and embrace Roku.

There is no money to be made in that market for someone like Google. A small niche op yes, Google no. Content providers always a problem, they want a monthly fee or something out of you. Free on the internet is only for the geeks not the Joe Blows of the world, they will pay to watch everything. LOL.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

nunya

MVM

Re: Roku

I gladly pay to watch content on my Roku. A service like Netflix is worth the $8.00 a month. A service like Hulu, on the other hand, sucks ass.
If Google TV can come up with a quality offering like Netflix, I'd buy. I'm an "official" cord cutter. We need someone "like" Google that can do battle against the status quo content providers who are fighting the inevitable change tooth and nail.
OwlSaver
OwlSaver
Premium Member
join:2005-01-30
Berwyn, PA

OwlSaver

Premium Member

I bought a Sony Google TV

I bought one for the kitchen so that we could watch NetFlix. It works fine for that. Other than the web browser, I do not see it as being any different than the Samsung SmartTV we have.

The GoogleTV did not come with a manual. It may have useful features that I do not know how to use. That could be a problem for google since I can't tell my friends about those features (if they even exist).

war_by_proxy
join:2004-06-15
Houston, TX

war_by_proxy

Member

Google TV is getting better

I have a Revue. I paid $99 when they went cut-rate on the price. Since the latest update, it's actually a really good solution for a TV box. It blows the hell out of Apple TV; I am not paying Apple for content I can only use on their device. I have a NAS with a DLNA server running, and the Revue has always played the files quickly and reliably. I have had zero problems with the media player, when used in this particular way, with any type of media file. I know other might have had problems, but I fail to see how the Roku would improve my experience any, particularly since it does not integrate with the TV I'm paying $70/month for.

scott2020
join:2008-07-20
MO

scott2020

Member

Re: Google TV is getting better

I want to know what Google plans to do with SageTV. They essentially killed off a great product.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Some blame goes to content owners

For the thud Google TV landed with. Sites like Hulu and the owners official streaming feeds started to block GoogleTV because they feared their content being seen on a TV set.
mogamer
join:2011-04-20
Royal Oak, MI

mogamer

Member

Blame Google entirely

I've said this before and I'll say it again. The lack of success of Google TV is entirely Googles fault. If Google really wanted this to succeed, they would have updated the browser to be able to go around the restrictions.

It's really funny though that these sites try to prevent people from watching their product on tv's when countless people do this everyday by connecting their pc to their big screens.
FrontirCynic
join:2006-10-25
Long Beach, CA

FrontirCynic

Member

got close to buying this..price still dropping

»www.boxee.tv/
I am on fios. Like the fiber, hate the "tv" dvr cost. have to pay the fios tv money to att trolls now for the use of a "smart"(vs dumb) phone and to blue cross for the privilege of having self employed heath ins. (pass the vaseline please)
Clever Name
Premium Member
join:2005-05-06
Davenport, IA

1 edit

Clever Name

Premium Member

It makes an acceptable browser

For my parents on their hd tv. It handles netflix and amazon instant video well enough. Other than that, I'm not overly impressed. It won't let you use the qam tuner in your hdtv and I'm not getting a cable or satellite box again. Hulu is worthless. So anyway remove the tv from the name. C+.