After suffering with clumsy, expensive set top boxes and an almost total lack of support, Google has finally taken Google TV down. Google promises that existing apps and services created for Google TV will live on, as will all Google TV hardware and software, but Developer tools have been pulled. Their reasoning is that Android TV is in full swing now, offering a superior experience for users.
On those sets, Google promised access to live television, apps, games, and more from a single remote, along with voice search functionality, Cast options from mobile devices, and Lollipop’s Material design aesthetic. So where do existing Google TV developers go from here? The team at Google is making it easy to port existing Google TV apps to Android TV. Depending on where they were at in the development and support cycle, it might be smarter to start from scratch.
Meanwhile, as a consumer, if you are not in the market for a new television with Android TV on board, you can still get your hands on Android TV through the Nexus Player. That is Google’s set-top box solution, the first consumer release Android TV device.
