Google TV getting Android 3.1 Honeycomb, Android Market
Google TV is getting a huge bump, with Android 3.1 and Android Market coming to a TV near you. Developers will be able to use one SDK and ship apps that work both on Honeycomb tablets and on Google TV devices.
Context & Ripple Effects
Honeycomb had been positioned as Android’s next release, while its APIs were presented as a way to make tablet-friendly Android apps. By March, coverage had already pointed to an app store for Google TV, making this update the distribution and development layer needed to connect TV devices to that software base.
Google is aligning Google TV with Honeycomb tablets through a shared SDK rather than treating television software as a separate developer target. That gives Android Market a new screen for the same application ecosystem.
First-order effects
- Google TV users gain access to Android Market apps alongside the Android 3.1 update, expanding the device’s available software beyond its preinstalled experience.
- Developers can target Honeycomb tablets and Google TV devices with one SDK, reducing the incremental work required to publish across both form factors.
Second-order effects
- Android developers have a stronger incentive to build Honeycomb-compatible apps because a single release can reach both tablet and television audiences through Android Market.
- Google TV device partners benefit only to the extent that the shared app catalog attracts developers, making software availability a more central differentiator for their hardware.
Third-order effects
- If developers adopt the shared SDK, Android’s ecosystem shifts toward a multi-screen model in which the platform’s app distribution and developer tools matter across device categories, not only on phones or tablets.
The trend: Google is extending Android from a device-specific operating system into a shared software and marketplace layer across multiple screens.