It’s apparently a busy time for the rumor mills. This week, 9to5Google reported on a rumor that Google could soon rebrand its Android TV platform, moving forward with a new name: Google TV. There’s not a whole lot else to back up the claim, but if it’s true, it wouldn’t be terribly out of character for the company.
Over the years, several products and services have shed the “Android” moniker, including Android Pay, which merged with Google Wallet and was renamed Google Pay. Elsewhere, Android Market evolved into what’s now known as Google Play, and the smartwatch-focused Android Wear now goes by Wear OS.
The Android name still carries plenty of weight in the smartphone arena, and it’s possible Google’s looking to adjust for some potential name-recognition dilution. The Android TV platform currently powers several media streamers and TVs, including NVIDIA’s Shield TV and several Sony smart TV models.
As for when such a name change could get an official announcement, Google I/O, which was originally scheduled for this coming week (May 12th-14th), would’ve made for an obvious choice, but the company canceled the event in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Still, it’s certainly possible the company could share big announcements in the coming days with or without the benefit of a big event.
In any case, we’ll continue to monitor the company’s announcements and we’ll keep you updated.
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