Schmidt Reckons Most TVs Will Have Google TV By Mid-2012

“By the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded in it,” Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said on stage at the Le Web conference.

The whole connected TV space will explode in 2012, as more new TVs ship with internet connectivity, bringing new content services to the living room. The on-screen gateway to that room is up for grabs. Schmidt, whose latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich variant is slick, is bullish because he thinks Google TV, which is essentially Android, will replicate the operating system’s mobile success. Told, on stage, that iPhone has a mobile lead, Schmidt retorted, rhetorically… “What kind of lead? Android is ahead of the iPhone now - by unit volume, with ICS features, prices are lower, with more vendors, more pricepoints - do I need to continue the list? It’s free.”