Where are the Apple and Google smart TVs? They have been abandoned by the market

Recently, according to US media reports, in the past three months, the news that Google and Apple were developing wearable devices was widely circulated in the technology industry, but six months ago, everyone's topic was focused on their TV products. So why did the rumors about TV products suddenly disappear?

　　This time last year, Apple watchers were expecting the release of an Apple TV that would cost about $2,000 and would pair with Apple's popular streaming media set-top box, and Google was also drafting some production deals with TV manufacturers.

　　Both companies have web content (iTunes, YouTube) to feed the TV streaming needs, and both have kept a surprisingly low profile on TV, despite Jobs declaring it the fourth leg of the Apple empire, in addition to computers, phones and music players. The appeal of TV is at the heart of every home, but for Apple and Google, it is more than just a conduit for streaming content.

　　In the early days, controlling the TV meant controlling other household products, such as the remote control of the air conditioner. This is why Microsoft got involved in TV operating systems very early.

　　Today, smart TV manufacturers hope that the application development community can make the interactive functions of the TV screen richer, and they hope that the functions of various devices connected to the TV can be integrated. In the end, it will become a collection of your game device, TV and network device, so that it will be more convenient to place advertisements on various devices.

　　Apple's current TV business is a small one by Apple's standards. It's lumped into the category of "accessories" along with all of Apple's hardware peripherals. It's become less important than it could have been as a central control device for the home. Apple CEO Tim Cook calls TV a "hobby" for Apple. In the current fiscal year, Apple sold 5.3 million TVs, nearly double the number it sold in 2011, but still not as many as the tens of millions of iPhones it has shipped.

　　On the other hand, the actual TV product market is firmly controlled by Korean manufacturers, namely Apple's main competitors Samsung and LG.

　　LG recently bought Web OS from HP to use for its smart TVs, which remains an open source project, while Samsung has also developed its own smart TVs for iOS, Microsoft and Android developers.

　　This also reminds us of Google. Some media have previously analyzed the impact of HP's purchase of Web OS on Google. This is definitely bad news for it. Google initially looked for multiple manufacturers for Google TV, trying to embed the system into various TV devices. Sony was a manufacturer, LG followed closely, and Samsung seemed to be interested in joining in early 2012. A year later, things have changed dramatically. Samsung's Google TV plan was aborted, Sony stopped selling Google TV and chose to switch to the supporting set-top box business, and now LG has purchased its own smart TV operating system. These objective situations will force Google to return to the supporting set-top box solution business.

　　Not long ago, market research firm Informa said that smart TVs will use Android as the default system. Is this view wishful thinking? After all, Samsung can use the Tizen system, and LG will use the Web OS system.

　　Currently, Asia is experiencing a major system rebellion. This is confirmed by news from China, where they believe Android is too strong and powerful. While Google is still worried about Samsung's strength in the Android system, Samsung and LG seem to have decided that Android is no longer a must-have system for them. When they develop smart devices, Apple and Google may be left out.