Google’s Nexus Player heading to Japan, its first market outside of North America

Google today announced that its Android-powered TV streaming box, the Nexus Player, will begin selling in Japan late next month. Japan will be the first country outside of the US and Canada to receive the device.

The Nexus Player, manufactured by Asus, is essentially a set-top box with a remote and an optional Bluetooth gaming controller. You can use native apps to watch YouTube videos, for example, or experience your favorite Android games, microconsole style – a point that Google seems to be emphasizing for the Japanese market:

Back in 2012, Japanese game company Square Enix released an Android version of their legendary Final Fantasy III, allowing fans of the 1990 hit a chance to relive their console-dominated youth on a smartphone or tablet. [The Nexus Player will allow] the Final Fantasy III Android app (and countless others) to be played on their TV with a game controller, like in the old days.

It’s powered by a 1.8GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. Like Google’s popular Chromecast dongle, the Nexus Player also supports Google Cast, allowing users to stream media from their Chromebook, Android, or iOS device directly to the box. The Nexus Player’s remote control has received high marks for its ability to recognize voice commands.

As for Japanese content, Goolge says that Video Market, Hot Pepper Beauty, Ryori Sapuri, and Hulu Japan will be available for the Nexus Player at launch.

At launch (slated for end of February, but no precise date is given), it will retail for JPY 12,800 (US$108), which is slightly more than the US model (US$99). No word yet on how much the optional gaming controller will cost in Japan.

Google’s streaming box is going up against rivals like Apple TV, Kindle Fire TV, and Roku in its home market. In Japan, however, only one of those three options is available – Apple TV. With Android taking just 41.5 percent of Japan’s mobile operating system market share, compared to Apple’s 57.6, the Nexus Player may have trouble unseating the incumbent in a country obsessed with everything Apple. But even Apple TVs sold in Japan come pre-packaged with native apps that are useless without an American cable subscription. In the end, it may boil down to which is more willing to provide the most localized content for Japanese users more than loyalty to a specific platform.

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