Google TV, the search giant's most headline-grabbing recent initiative, is designed to achieve what, to date, has been a maddeningly elusive goal for big tech companies: The fusion of Internet and TV programming. It's also another direct challenge to Steve Jobs & Co., whose Apple TV product has been an uncharacteristic flop.

"There's a big opportunity here for Google to embed its technology into televisions," says Kurt Scherf, a principal analyst at research firm Parks Associates. "Google has the scale and the ability to target users and serve up ads that other players lack."

Still, as he wrote in a blog post Friday, Scherf has doubts about whether "the usability of the platform itself might be a detriment," referring to the need for a physical keyboard. And he's not convinced that search "is the way in which consumers want to engage in their TV experience."

Scherf has a point, but there's no doubt we're moving toward a day when consumers will enjoy an integrated Internet and TV experience in their living rooms. Given Google's dominance of the online ad market -- as well as its ownership of YouTube -- it's only natural for Google to venture into this realm.

From the article, "Why Google's Multimedia War With Apple Benefits Consumers" by Sam Gustin

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