The Google Chromecast - the HDMI TV dongle that's barely larger than a thumbstick flash drive - has been a hit this year, despite supporting only a few compatible apps. However, Google is now saying the current Chromecast is just the beginning.

When the Chromecast was first launched, it instantly sold out of the Google Play store, and the devices were hard to find at Best Buy. Partly, this was because the Chromecast only cost $35, and the first wave came with three months of Netflix free, making the total cost of the device less than $10. But it also became popular because of the promise the dongle held. Take any device or computer, connect it to the Chromecast and you can suddenly make your shows or videos appear on an HDTV with no cords.

That promise is still a little unfulfilled, because in the later part of 2013, Google was slow to add app support. For a few months, Google only added Hulu Plus, Pandora, and HBO Go support, while local media streaming was disabled in an update. Add in the initial apps - Netflix, Google Play Video and Music, YouTube, and of course the Chrome browser, and you've got a tidy little ecosystem. But still little.

In the past week, Google announced 10 more apps, adding local media streaming support and expanding the Chromecast's capability a considerable amount. Well, according to what Google vice president of Product Management Mario Queiroz told GigaOm recently, that was just the beginning.

For those who have Chromecast and still want more apps, Queiroz promised more apps to be released in waves in the near future. But beyond that, Google apparently wants Chromecast to become a new media standard across the world - with developers making hundreds of apps and manufacturers incorporating Chromecast technology within smart devices.

Google is just putting the finishing touches on the Chromecast SDK (developer kit), and when that's finished, app makers will easily be able to include Chromecast support in their apps - opening up the number of apps from the current near-20 to an endless number. "There will be an expectation from consumers that any and every app will be 'castable,'" said Queiroz. He added that "hundreds of developers" have already signed up to use the unfinished Chromecast SDK to build apps - even though Google is not allowing them to distribute those apps yet.

Google is also planning on launching Chromecast in several international markets, all the better to get even more developers across the world to add support for casting.

Finally, Google is in talks - or "serious conversations," as Queiroz put it - with several consumer electronics manufacturers to essentially make their smart devices "Chromecastable" without the dongle. Google had already been working with manufacturers like Samsung and Sony, along with content providers like Netflix, BBC, and Hulu to support an Airplay rival technology called DIAL, which according to GigaOm, is a core component of Chromecast's casting technology. This head start means that SmartTVs released next year may already be Chromecast TVs.

All in all, it's quite a plan for TV domination - and if the Chromecast continues to be a bestseller (as it is in nearly every store that carries it), it may be the start of finally connecting TVs, sound systems, smartphones, tablets, and other devices from companies across the technology business in an open, inclusive, all-encompassing platform.