Panasonic Corp, the fourth-largest TV maker, decided against using Google Inc’s Android operating system to handle Internet features in its TVs because the approach would be too costly, a Panasonic executive said.
The company held talks with Google about using the software, which has been offered to electronics manufacturers as a way to bring Web applications to TVs. While Android is free, the technology would have required pricey computer chips from Google’s partner Intel Corp, said Robert Perry, senior vice president of Panasonic Consumer Electronics Co, its US unit.
Android would “require processing power that adds too much to the cost of the set,” Perry said in an interview after a presentation of the company’s 3-D technology in San Francisco.
Panasonic, Samsung Electronics Co, Sony Corp and other makers of high-definition TVs are adding Internet connections to home-entertainment products this year, with each company taking a different approach. The goal is to let consumers use Web services such as Netflix, YouTube and weather sites without leaving the couch.
The decision by Panasonic not to use Android follows a similar move by Samsung. That company said last month that it was not interested in Google TV because its current focus is on its own applications platform for TVs and Blu-ray players.
Panasonic, based in Osaka, Japan, develops its own Web software and delivers content from its servers — rather than allowing users to pull up anything they want. The Google-Intel partnership, meanwhile, would let users connect to almost any Web site, just like a personal computer. Sony also is part of that coalition, known as Google TV, according to people involved in the discussions.
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