Google TV - Way to Market! (marketing tip)

Google announced today that Google TV is live! And it is "live"--depending on what your definition of "live" is.

Apparently it's live somewhere inside Google, Inc. and a few select TV vendors have access to in. But that's it.

Oh, you wanted to see it, try it out, maybe even buy it? Sorry, it's not available.

You thought "live" meant "available?" Did you fall off the marketing pumpkin truck yesterday?

What's alive and going full force is Google's pre-sale marketing machine -- just in time for Christmas.

They are warming up the audience with teasers. Announcements about the channels they'll have, like NBC, CBS and Amazon. Amazon?? Did you know Amazon has something like 75,000 movies and TV shows you can download--that is, if you have the required set-top box. Supposedly, Google TV won't require a set-top box.

This is classic marketing: advertising what's coming in order to stop prospects from buying a competitor's product before you get your product to market. Would you dare buy a set-top box now, knowing Google TV doesn't require one? No.

Note also that no specific delivery date is given, just "coming this fall." That separates "selling" from the "delivering," which is a godsend for the production people who are trying to get all the back-office pieces in place--the channel contracts, testing of all the system upgrades, the customer support call center, the online documentation, etc., etc.

So the marketing people have been unleashed to get every TV station, tech magazine and blogger (myself included) creating a buzz about Google TV. They already have over 3 million pages mentioning Google TV on the web. Well done, Google.

Of course, strategically, Google is placing itself as the gatekeeper to the Internet -- But that's a topic for another blog.