Google has launched its digital media player Chromecast into Europe, with more than 3,000 developers working on apps and websites for the dongle.
The product went on sale in Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK today, priced at €35.
Chromecast plugs into a HDMI slot in a television and can stream content from the likes of NetFlix, YouTube or Google Play via a Wi-Fi network. Consumers can control the content by using a smartphone, tablet or laptop.
Google said new apps for Chromecast will start rolling out from today, such as BBC iPlayer in the UK, France TV Pluzz and SFR TV in France, with CANALPLAY coming soon; and Watchever in Germany with a launch for Maxdome upcoming.
The company said since it opened Chromecast to developers last month, it has signed up more than 3,000 developers to its programme.
The product originally launched in the US in July 2013; Google said it had sold “millions” of the dongles without specifying further.
According to Cisco, more than 10.7 million terabytes of video will be consumed on mobile devices by 2018, compared to more than 793,000 terabytes now. Mobile video accounted for more than half all data traffic in 2012.
Chromecast’s launch is Google’s second major product announcement this week. Yesterday, it announced its long-awaited SDK for wearable devices, with Motorola and LG among the manufacturers who promised smartphones running Android Wear would be launched this year.