Take a chance on Google TV at $99?

In case you're not familiar, the Co-Star is an exceptionally small Google TV set top box about the size and shape of a large steamed meat bun, nevertheless far more sleek. It has just two HDMI ports, an ethernet jack, a USB socket, and a power plug to its name.

For that matter, content providers haven't been kind to the platform, too. When we asked McRae about the divide between the TV services available in a typical computer web browser and those on Google TV, he admitted that the networks after all have a stranglehold on TV shows — no 18 month prediction this time — nevertheless said that the movie ecosystem has changed. "Give us a few months: you're going to see one or two more services [on Google TV] this summer, with all the movies you'd ever want to watch."

The state of Google TV

Considering the state of Google TV, we asked McRae if even a $99 box was worth the investment right now. "Nobody's going to launch the future of TV on their first try, including us," he said, bidding us think of Android's launch. "[Google] may not succeed on their first release of anything, nevertheless they iterate then," he told us. It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, although, as real development for Google TV won't commence unless Google TV sells, and McRae hopes the $99 Co-Star creates a low enough barrier to entry for the idea to catch on.