• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, February 10, 2012

Google has evidently decided that the algorithm to increasing its ever-insatiable share of mind and market involves manufacturing and branding its own hardware. Various media outlets are reporting the existence of a prototype Google home entertainment device that initially will stream music but could be capable of much more down the line.

GigaOm’s Stacey Higginbotham revealed last Friday that Google had filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to test such a device. The FCC filingasks for permission to begin a six-month trial -- actually of “252 devices” as Hayley Tsukayama reports in the Washington Post -- starting Jan. 17 at Google facilities in Los Angeles, Cambridge, Mass., New York and Mountain View, Calif. Google says the testing will “reveal the real world engineering issues and reliability of networks” and will help it “make tweaks for a better user experience.”

Google eventually “hopes to connect everything in the home to the Internet,” David Streitfeld and Nicole Perlroth write in the New York Times, “including light bulbs, speakers and TV sets.” It showed a “conceptual” version of just such a device last year at a developer conference.

Joe Britt, one of the leaders of the Android OS’s hardware unit, previewed two conceptual devices he called "Tungsten" at a developer’s conference last year, the Wall Street Journal’s Amir Efrati and Ethan Smith reveal."Think about your home as a network of accessories and think of Android as the operating system for your home, a vision called 'Android @Home,'" Britt said at the time, without indicating any of Google’s plans for the device.

A source tells the Wall Street Journal that Google’s initial device is similar to ones made by Sonos that focus exclusively on music but that it will be “more affordable.”

“I'd be stunned if [Google] actually thought it was worth it, because it's peanuts for them," Sonos co-founder Tom Cullen responds. He estimates the worldwide market for such devices at around $8 billion a year while Google’s revenue is currently about $38 billion.

“The rumored product could indeed support more than just basic audio by leveraging the Android-based Google TV to stream video as well,” suggestsApple Insider’s Mikey Campbell. “Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility may also yield helpful patents such as ‘Televation,’ which allows users to rebroadcast live video content to other devices in the home.”

In any event, the Google hardware device is sure to step up competition with Apple, as most stories point out, which recently stepped into Google’s territory with the launch of its voice-activated search engine, Siri.

Mind you, there are skeptics out there. Ardent ones.

“Google's Foray Into Hardware Will Be A Total Disaster -- Here’s Why,” reads the hed on Business Insider’s Matt Rosoff’s analysis.

The Numero Uno reason Google will fail in the endeavor, Rosoff feels, is that it lacks all of the essential qualities that are Apple’s strengths in appealing to consumers:

• Design chops
• Shipping finished products that customers love
• Customer service
• Manufacturing
• Advertising

“Google is really good at building fast, useful, responsive software that runs at Internet scale, and at hooking up the users of that software with advertisers to make gobs of money….” Rosoff writes. “But adding a business in which it has demonstrated none of the characteristics necessary to succeed just seems utterly mad.”

Mad? Well, humorous and amazing at least.

“Say what? Google is going to do hardware? LOL!” reads the hed on a blog post by GigaOM Network founder Om Malik. He concludes the company lacks discipline and self-awareness, though the revelation of the test is truly “amazing.”

“Amazing, because Google thinks that it will actually be able to crack the consumer electronics marketplace. Amazing, to think that this company will build a supply chain and manage relationships with retailers and get people to buy it… Amazing, considering that the company’s track record on products beyond its core offerings -- search, advertising and communication-oriented software -- is spotty, at best.”

Then again, as Forrester analyst James McQuivey tells the New YorkTimes, Google may have little choice because its “future depends on extending its influence beyond the PC screen.” Previous ventures into hardware were hampered by outsidemanufacturers who didnot move quickly enough. Presumably, that would not be the case if Google were running its own show.

“It’s quite telling that Amazon introduced its tablet two months ago and is already the second tablet maker in the market,” McQuivey points out.

But even if they pull it off, would No. 2 be good enough for Google? Stay streamed.