Newsweek reports that Apple's iTV, a wireless video streaming set-top box to be released next year, might include a link to Google Video. "In addition to the photos, movies, TV shows and tunes on your hard drive, iTV, with the ridiculously minimal six-button Apple remote, lets you go to the Net to get stuff. Last week Jobs showed only a menu item that pulls in movie trailers, but when you open up your iTunes library, you can also listen to bits of new music recommended by the iTunes store. Is it possible that when iTV ships next year, you may also be able to choose a menu item called Google Video, and then zip through the best of the thousands of user-submitted videos on the search giant's service? Google's consumer product chief, Marissa Mayer, tells me that indeed, the two companies are engaged in talks."
Google also has a partnership with DivX to make Google Video easy to integrate with electronic devices, so Google might provide an option to view the videos at higher quality. But to make the integration really useful, Google needs to focus on personalizing Google Video.
"More quality videos, easier to find videos and a more personal experience. I think this is the key for a better Google Video," I concluded in What's next for Google Video.
{ Via Garett Rogers, who anticipated this. }
