• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, February 10, 2012

Not about to let Apple or Microsoft rule American households, Google is reportedly developing a home-entertainment system that streams music wirelessly throughout the home and would be branded as a Google product.

“The effort marks a sharp shift in strategy for Google, which for the first would time would design and market consumer electronic devices under its name,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

“Google still makes the vast majority of its money from Internet search,” notes The New York Times. “But as computing detaches from the desktop and laptop, the company cannot afford to be marginalized … The new device is an effort to control the design, production and sale of an entertainment device, just as its competitors have done so successfully.”

“When I read the news, the word that came to mind: Amazing!” exclaims Om Malik. “Amazing -- because I just finished a post about Google’s me-too-ism affliction … because Google thinks that it will actually be able to crack the consumer electronics marketplace …. Amazing, to see one of smartest companies show such lack of discipline and self awareness.”

 Certainly, the project “would be a departure for Google, which has created the Android operating system for other companies to use in devices such as smartphones, tablets and televisions,” writes the Los Angeles Times.

Maybe [Google CEO] Larry Page really was jealous of Steve Jobs,” Business Insider suggests. “Or maybe Google is just jealous of Apple’s revenue and profits and market cap … Whatever the reason, this won't end well.”

Still, if successful -- and that remains a big ‘if’ -- Microsoft has the most to lose, according to Computerworld. “Music is only Google's first target,” it predicts. “Next up are television and movies, which Microsoft wants to control in the home as well.”

Meanwhile, as The Guardian writes: “The ambitious plans would intensify its rivalry with Apple, whose Apple TV product allows users to play music and YouTube videos through television sets, and bring the internet company into competition with consumer electronics firms such as Sony and Panasonic.”