Let the web TV battle begin – Google’s and Intel’s assault on Apple and Yahoo!

Google and Intel are expected to launch their ‘Smart TV’ platform this week, revealing a deal with Sony that will bring web services to TV sets. Has web TV finally arrived?

The launch will happen at Google’s highly anticipated annual developer conference in San Francisco, but it’s not secret.

Google tied up with Intel, Sony and Logitech back in March for a project which was called Google TV. Under this, all the involved companies sought to create a technology to make navigation of web applications easy through TV. And Intel and Sony are along for the ride in an attempt to find new markets.

And a year from now, according to Intel, TV will have been reinvented by the concept of Smart TV.

The venture includes Intel’s Atom microprocessor and Google’s Android operating system in set-top boxes and TVs featuring integrated internet services that could also allow broadcasters to turn set-top boxes into video game consoles.

The venture will allow the search engine giant to control internet access on yet another category of devices, ensuring it keeps its dominance in the global internet market. By offering its Chrome web browser on the Android system, Google will also be able to ensure its search and advertising technologies continue to bring in more profits.

With TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes adding internet connectivity to their features, a host of companies are tailoring and integrating web-based content for our living room TV’s – further blurring the line between home entertainment and computing.

The question is, who will do it best?

Google won’t have an instant monopoly. Apple already offer Apple TV, a box that allows users to buy and rent movies from its iTunes store to play on their TVs. However, apart from YouTube videos and Flickr photos, its access to the wider web is limited.

Yahoo!, however, has already launched a ‘Widget Engine’ for TV sets at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year that will allow consumers around the globe to connect to the internet via their TVs. The search company will begin shipping the widgets by the end of Q1 2010.

So it seems the race is on for the search giants to conquer TV. But do we really need it?

Between 3D TV and HD TV and the looming digital switchover, it may not be the best time to launch web TV, especially as a lot of us are already watching TV via our computers. Web TV is about changing habits, and surfing the internet from your couch may not be the easiest thing to do (and read), especially when there are way cooler things to be doing (watching 3D).