The announcement of a new Chromecast and audio streaming ‘Chromecast Audio’ at their Nexus event in September was somewhat expected, but we’ve yet to see any indication that the new dongles will arrive in Australia any time soon. An addition of a Chromecast micro-site on the Google Australia domain has added a little fuel to the fire that we might see them soon.
The micro-site for Chromecast Audio and Chromecast 2 have gone up and you can check them out at google.com.au/chromecast/speakers/ and www.google.com.au/chromecast/tv/,. The original Chromecast micro-site remains up on the Australian domain showing information and pictures of the original Chromecast.
Additionally, the Chromecast 2 and Chromecast Audio micro-sites are simply cut and paste clones of the US sites, with the same US$35 price tag and pointer to Best Buy, Walmart and of course the Google Store when you click the ‘Buy Now‘ button.
Google left Australia off the original list of countries able to order the Chromecast 2 and Chromecast Audio when they launched, and hasn’t announced any further availability information about the dongles.
There’s also no sign of the Chromecast 2 or Chromecast 2 on the Australian Google Store with all their visual assets still showing the original – and there’s nothing in the underlying code either.
A small rumour circulated that we were going to see a November launch, but with Christmas now looming it seems there was anything to that rumour and it’s unlikely we’ll see them any time before the new year.
Google finally launched the original Chromecast in Australia at the end of May last year, some 10 months after the dongle was officially announced. While we don’t expect it to take 10 months for the dongle to launch here in Australia, it does seem to be taking its time.
We’ve imported a couple of the Chromecast 2 and Chromecast Audio dongles and so far we can say they’re a great update to the original product – the Chromecast Audio is simply awesome if you have some spare speakers lying around.
While the addition of the micro-site doesn’t mean much, perhaps we’ll see something in the new year.
