According to the LA Times:
Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap — perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.
Bear Stearns analysts speculated in a research report last month that consumers would soon see something called "Google Cubes" — a small hardware box that could allow users to move songs, videos and other digital files between their computers and TV sets.
Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president of products, will give a keynote address Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Analysts suspect that Page will use the opportunity either to show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine.
Comment: Doesn't sound like a good idea for Page & Brin to get into a business they know nothing about, but there are plenty of manufacturers who would be happy to stick a Google badge on something to exploit the brand name. Of course, browsing systems like Microsoft's WebTV (with hardware from Sony, Phillips Magnavox, RCA, Mitsubishi etc) and numerous network appliances (i-Opener etc) all failed miserably in a previous century, but the market is much bigger now and there may be enough stuff on the web to make the idea viable.
But if Google Cubes have problems, it could easily wipe tens of billions off Google's market value....
Update: Google denies Google PC reports says CNet's Google Blog. "We have many PC partners who serve their markets exceedingly well and we see no need to enter that market; we would rather partner with great companies," Google said in a statement.
