Sony has officially announced the imminent release of its Google TV set-top box in Australia. The ‘Sony Internet Player with Google TV’ will initially be available exclusively as a bundle with premium Sony TVs.
The Sony Internet Player with Google TV will be the first Google TV product to be sold in Australia, although the platform debuted in 2011 in the US.
The Google TV alliance of Sony, Intel, Google and Logitech saw Google TV-enabled Sony TVs, Blu-ray players and a Logitech set-top box released to the American market, although poor sales led to Intel abandoning the venture and Logitech discontinuing the Revue after discounting the device’s price by 60 per cent from US$249 to US$99.
Sony marks the NSZ-GS7 Internet Player with Google TV’s retail price at $349 in Australia, but it will initially be available exclusively with the purchase of the Sony BRAVIA HX850 and HX750 LED TVs. The deal begins on Thursday 28 June, although an end date for the offer is not specified. It is unclear when or if the Sony NSZ-GS7 will go on sale as a stand-alone unit.
The Sony Internet Player with Google TV has access to Google’s Play app store, and will run on the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operation system. An Ice Cream Sandwich Google TV box is under development but it is unknown whether existing boxes will be upgradeable.
Sony’s new Google TV box will centre around a full Google Chrome browser. Sony’s Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited streaming media services will also be integrated. The NSZ-GS7 will come with a touchpad remote control with a QWERTY keyboard, which The Verge reports will have limited motion capability.
