In fact, Google is supposedly planning to have the updated Google TV ready in time for the holiday 2011 shopping season, which puts it somewhere far later in the year. Unlike its first iteration, which threatened to bypass cable and other networks altogether – and earned Google multiple blocks from streaming content providers – the tweaked Google TV will supposedly be “pitched more clearly” as a way to add to the existing TV experience, bringing companion applications and videos that would not normally be available through traditional channels.
Whether that will be enough to persuade manufacturers to get on board remains to be seen. Google is said to be finally bringing Vizio and Samsung into the Google TV fold, while previous leaks have suggested faster processors and a reworked UI to make the whole experience more palatable to consumers. However, existing Google TV devices – like the Logitech Revue – will also apparently be upgradable to the new version.
