Casual Historian / CC BY-SA 2.0

Look out for an open SDK, international expansion and new devices from Google's Chromecast system over the coming year.

The search giant is planning to bring its streaming dongle to a number of international markets, according to Google's product management VP Mario Queiroz in an interview with Gigaom. He added that people will be "pleasantly surprised" by the scope of the expansion.


The idea is to persuade app publishers around the world to make their apps Chromecast-compatible, so that users will be able to access more content using the device. "There will be an expectation from consumers that any and every app will be 'castable,'" Queiroz said.

To that end, an open SDK will be launched during 2014. Right now a preview is available to developers, but it's not yet possible to distribute apps with the functionality.

The eventual goal is to make Chromecast an ecosystem in its own right, persuading consumer electronics manufacturers to built it in to devices as standard. To that end, Queiroz said the company has already had "serious conversations" with the number of major players.