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Will tomorrow herald the dawn of Google TV?

Google and Intel are expected to announce a significant breakthrough into consumer electronics and the broadcast industry this week with the launch of a “Smart TV” platform.

Top executives from the Silicon Valley companies are reported to be ready to reveal a deal with Sony, bringing web services to its televisions, during Google’s annual developer conference in San Francisco.

From FT.com.

What will actually be announced we don’t know yet. But it seems that it is a fairly open secret that it will happen tomorrow at Google’s Developer Conference.

Apparently a range of devices, including both set-top-boxes and fully blown TVs will feature Intel’s Atom microprocessor (a SOC containing a cut down Intel x86 CPU core and an over-clocked PowerVR GPU), running a flavour of Google’s Android OS.

By the way, the actual GPU used in the latest Atom is basically the same as the GPU in the iPad.

It’s interesting that Intel’s debut mobile SOC offering, which is too power hungry to actually be a real mobile solution in its current form (because its CPU core is primarily of desktop origin, and its GPU is over-clocked), is perhaps going to end up being the core of media units and home TVs. In this application it can presumably get away with running flat out at the more power hungry, but consequently also more impressive, end of its performance envelope.

Sony are said to see their part in this partnership as a good way to get a foothold in a complex, new and consequently potentially risky marketplace.

What will Apple’s reaction be to all this? I am of the opinion that Samsung will tie up with Apple for the same reasons that Sony is said to have partnered with Google and Intel.