You may have already heard something of Vizio’s entry into the small, Google TV realm at the wondrous price of $99 but now, the Co-Star is up for Pre-Order and should be shipping out on August 14th. There’s nothing all that spectacular about Google TV especially since Google didn’t unveil a needed revamp of the platform at this year’s I/O conference. Vizio’s co-star however, may just be the box that propels the platform into everyday users’ minds. Vizio have long been one of the top-selling TV manufacturers in the states and have been a household name for a long time now, putting Google TV in the same sentence as Vizio is definitely going to make users think twice about the platform. The box itself comes with two HDMI ports, an ethernet port as well as USB.
Why is the Co-Star so important to Google TV you say? On the face it, it really isn’t all that important but, with services such as Netflix and OnLive gaming shipping with the box it shows what can happen when companies put time and effort into partnering and working with others. If only Google had tried a similar strategy when they launched Google TV, their platform could be in a better position.
It’s said that Vizio spent “months” preparing and fine-tuning the OnLive implementation in the box which is sure to make gamers happy that there’s one less box around the TV, with OnLive and Netflix coming to Co-Star this makes it a serious contender to the Roku as there’s more on offer here, for less. Expect to see the Co-Star towards the middle of next month.