First appeared in LA Times
Sounds like Google is changing its tune.
The company behind the Web’s most popular search engine is
working on a home entertainment device, according to a filing with the Federal
Communications Commission. And reports say that device will stream music
wirelessly in people's homes.
Google plans to test 252 of the devices in its employees’
homes in Mountain View, Calif., where it has its headquarters; in Los Angeles;
in New York; and in Cambridge, Mass. The device uses wireless home networks and
“requires testing outside the laboratory environment,” the filing said.
The device isn’t ready to ship yet. The company says it’s
still in the “prototyping phase.”
Google is looking for promising gushers other than its
gangbusters search advertising business, which accounts for nearly all its revenue.
It may be targeting consumer electronics, which would bring
Google into closer competition with Apple.
Last May at its annual Google I/O developers conference,
Google showed off Android@Home devices that played music. Android@Home enables
Android apps to connect with devices in the home. Late last year, Google
launched a music service that sells songs through the Android market.
Google is also trying to close its $12.5-billion acquisition
of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which makes set-top boxes and mobile
handsets.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the new
device would stream music wirelessly in the home and would be marketed as a
Google product. According to the report, the device has been in the works for
years and will be out this year.
That would be a departure for Google, which has created the
Android operating system for other companies to use in devices such as
smartphones, tablets and televisions.
Testing of the device was first reported by technology blog
GigaOm.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.
