Google Android to power TVs

Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest television maker, said it may equip its TVs with Google Inc software, and compete with Sony Corp in offering sets that surf the Web and double as computers.

The company, based in Suwon, South Korea, is also likely to meet to its 2010 sales target for TVs, Yoon Boo Keun, head of Samsung's TV business, said, without giving further details.
TV makers such as Samsung and Sony are looking to tap into the growing demand for Web-based programming and a slice of the $175 billion TV advertising market. The companies are betting on Google's Android operating system to compete with Apple Inc, which earlier this month released a $99 TV set-top box that delivers movie and TV show rentals from the Internet.

Sony in May unveiled the prototype of a Bravia set that will deliver video and music over the Internet in partnership with Google. The TVs are expected in stores by Christmas.

Apple TV will rent high-definition TV programs for 99 cents, first-run movies for $4.99 and will work with Netflix Inc's online service, Apple's Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said last week. To provide the TV rental service, Apple forged deals with Walt Disney Co's ABC and News Corp's Fox, Jobs said.