More information on the newly revealed Ubuntu TV has been made available online by Canonical.
Alongside a new mini-site to promote the OS to device manufactures, a short video showing off the UI of the entertainment-orientated OS spin in action has been put online.
Features
The official ‘Ubuntu TV’ site lists a features to be found in the OS.
- Easy integration of broadcast, online services and applications
- Modern broadcast TV experience – search , watch, record and play
- Millions of movies and TV shows streamed over the web on demand
- Shared-screen experience with iOS, Android and Ubuntu devices
- Pause on one device, resume on another
- Ubuntu One integration
- App framework
Details on the technical specifications needed for devices to run Ubuntu TV are also noted, with Ubuntu TV supporting both ARM and x86 processors; requiring a minimum of 2GB disk space for for installation and at least 1GB of RAM for memory.
The code for Ubuntu TV is to also be made available online for developers to play with.
Does Ubuntu TV Stand a Chance?
The Smart TV market is in its infancy. Despite manufacturers having touted internet connected TVs as being ‘the future’, that ‘future’ never quite arrived as quickly as they’d hoped.
But change is on the horizon; CES 2012 is awash in a sea of smart TVs – most of which tout Google’s Android as their OS de choix.
Timing will play a key role is just how successful Ubuntu TV becomes. Canonical are hoping that the first Ubuntu TVs will appear before the year’s end, but the bad news for them is that the Android-powered TV army will have been available long in advance – and it’s the early adopters that tend to dictate trends.
The other uphill struggle will be in creating a developer ecosystem around the platform. Whilst Android continues to swell at the seams with 3rd party developers Ubuntu TV will likely be dependent on traditional Linux developers during its infancy. If these developers can add enough value to the platform to attract both consumers and the imagination of other developers then Ubuntu TV won’t be the stillborn smart TV many are predicting it will be.
2012 is going to be one exciting year indeed.