Now that GoogleTV, the new program putting together television and online media, is on track to be released in the fall, Logitech is announcing their new product: the first companion box for GoogleTV that will be made available. And Logitech’s involvement doesn’t stop there. They are also planning to release apps that can turn your smartphone into a controller for your GoogleTV (as if you weren’t already addicted to smartphone apps). What’s more is that Logitech is also working on an HDTV camera and video calling software that will allow users access to video communication.
Where the future of this type of video communication is concerned, Logitech has shown their commitment time and again. To fight difficulties that consumers have with unified communications technology, the company has joined forces with others such as Microsoft and HP in founding the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum (UCIF). The forum will focus on making unified communications systems interoperable with other systems. Logitech is also committed to having open standards such as using VP8 systems, a codec that is widely used for compressing and decompressing digital video. This codec, along with their commitment to the UCIF, will allow Logitech to pursue a world where video communication is as common as phone communication is now.