Google may launch Android controlled home entertainment system

This one actually could be far bigger news than it first would seem. The news has come out that Google may be looking to launch an Android controlled home entertainment system later this year. The interesting part of it is that the hardware is said to be Google branded. As yet, Google has never released branded hardware without a partner, like the HTC Nexus One, Samsung Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, and Motorola XOOM. 

The report by the Wall Street Journal says that Google is planning to design and market the home entertainment system, and there is no mention of any hardware partners. The idea behind the entertainment system is similar to the Android@Home project that Google showed off at last year's Google I/O. The home entertainment system has been developed by the Android team, and will run a variant of the mobile OS software. It will allow users to stream music from any device over a wireless network. 

It is highly likely that such a system would see pretty tight integration with Google Music, Android and Google TV (which is itself a variant of Android). The real question is whether or not Google is really planning to build the hardware itself. Even the acquisition of Motorola Mobility wouldn't really help with this as the company has no history of building audio equipment bigger than headphones. 

What do you guys think? Would you buy Google-branded speakers? Would you trust Google as a hardware manufacturer?

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