More Google TV details emerge

More details have leaked about Google's reported move into the set top box market, including the firm's partnership with Sony and Intel to develop new software.

Last week, it emerged that Google is running trials of STB software to enable users to browse television programmes and web video content from providers such as Hulu and YouTube.

According to the New York Times, the initiative - dubbed Google TV - has the ultimate aim of making navigation of web applications as easy as changing channels on a TV.

Citing sources close to the development, the newspaper claimed that Sony and Intel are collaborating with Google to develop the software, which is being tested by satellite provider Dish Network.

Google hopes to create an open TV platform - underpinned by its Android operating system and using Intel's Atom chips - to free up developers to create interesting applications. A prototype set top box has already been created, but the software could also be integrated into TV sets or other connected devices.

The firm is understood to be preparing to offer third-party programmers a toolkit for the platform in the next few months, with Google TV potentially arriving in products as early as the summer.

Sony, Intel and Google have also contacted Logitech to create a range of peripheral devices for Google TV, including a remote control featuring a keyboard function.

Google wants its TV software to help it gain a foothold in the living room as consumers increasingly utilise diverse ways to access web content.

A source with knowledge of the situation claimed: "Google wants to be everywhere the internet is so they can put ads there."

Rumours of a possible Google move into the set top box software market date back to 2007, but nothing has actually materialised so far.