A couple of days ago we had what could have been the first image of the rumoured upcoming Google tablet and now there are reports that the device won’t be available to at least July.
It was believed previously that the Google branded device would be available around May, but now The Verge are reporting that sources are now suggesting it won’t be available before July. The reasons behind this delay are that Google wants to make some design changes, and also wants to find ways to bring the price down from the current $249 suggested price level.
It is believed that the tablet will be manufactured in partnership with Asus, and current specs are rumoured to feature a seven inch screen powered by the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor. The device is also thought to be Wi-Fi only and will come running the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.
With the suggested $249 price tag it would come in at a more expensive price than the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is also a seven inch tablet and priced at $199. We have also heard again recently reports of Apple looking to develop a 7.88-inch iPad mini, which if true would go up against any new tablet from Google.
There are some who believe Google has delayed the device to after June so the company can release it with the next version of Android, Jelly Bean. This seems unlikely though and Google has partnered with Asus in a similar way it does with companies working on the Android Nexus smartphones. Many of these companies have stated the partnership gave them a big boost as Google is such a big name.
Having a co-branding strategy with Android tablets will open the door to a variety of other companies to work with Google in the future, which would include the likes of Acer and Samsung amongst others. Do you think a Google branded tablet PC will be a success?