Experts Weigh in on Google Releasing a Tablet
Google is planning to release its very own tablet within the next six months, according to the company’s CEO Eric Schmidt.
He told this news to Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sea. Schmidt specifically outlined Google’s plans to market a new tablet computer that would be of the “highest quality,” setting off rumors of a possible “Nexus” tablet – a brand Google has used on smartphones.
“The idea with the Nexus branded products is to show the full capabilities of the latest version of Android,” Alex Spektor, an analyst at technology research firm Strategy Analytics told the Boston Herald.
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“It shows licensees what the ideal Google device experience is like, and to show consumers what the product can do,” he added.
Spektor also told the publication that he expects a Google tablet could be different from Apple’s iPad, packing a display with a higher resolution and a more powerful processor. But he also feels that it would not fare well against competitors such as Apple, HTC and Samsung. Both Samsung and HTC use the open-source Android operating system for their tablets.
“Google needs to be careful not to compete on volume and profit with its licensees,” he added.
IDC analyst Tom Mainelli holds a different outlook on Google’s future plans to release a tablet. He told the Boston Herald that the company needs a big selling tablet, since it doesn’t get credit for the first runaway hit Android tablet, the Amazon Kindle Fire. It’s a device that uses a customized version on Android.
“Google completely lost control of the Amazon and Barnes and Noble products,” he told the Boston Herald. “Those both run Android, but the average user would never know it.”
The tablet market still has not seen a super successful device running Google’s software to the extent of what the company has done in the smartphone market.
“No one’s really buying Android tablets anyway,” he said. “I don’t think anyone would blame them if they tried to get some traction with a Google-branded media tablet in 2012.”
