Google has announced that it will get into the video business. This was not really a surprise to anyone; the company has been trialing its video service for several months.
The announcement confirms that getting our TV via the Internet is not just some fad--it's here to stay. But we're currently in the Betamax-VHS phase, where each company or consortium is using proprietary video formats that require specfic software on your computer and/or a particular portable video player. Apple's video won't play on anything but iPods, and video bought from Google won't play on, well, any portable player. Go figure. And Google apparently does not even have a Mac version of the player needed for video purchased from its store.
All these companies think they are going to somehow lock up marketshare with proprietary formats, encouraged, no doubt, by Apple's success at locking up something like 80% of the portable music/video player market. In the long term, these strategies retard growth of the market--people worry about not being able to watch or listen to something they bought. Eventually, I think even Apple will have to loosen up.