Earlier this month, the New iPad 3 was launched and since then shown record sales with over 3 million units sold by the first weekend already. Unfortunately for Google, hopes for its Android operating system to take marketshare away from the iPad continue to dwindle.
$149 Google Nexus Android 4.0 tablet to bring price wars and fast updates to New iPad 3 battle
Now the folks over at AndroidAndMe claim that Google is secretly working with ASUS to change things around. Despite boasting the latest hardware and features, Android tablets can’t seem to beat the New iPad 3 and it may have to do with some very easy to solve issues – price and operating system.
Given that the New iPad 3 starts at a very low price tag of $499, getting into the iOS ecosystem is actually very affordable. Unfortunately when it comes to Android tablets, it will cost you a little more to get some serious hardware. Likewise, Android 3.0 Honeycomb which is the base for the current generation of Android tablets seems to be lacking compatible apps, and the rollout of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for most Android tablets is extremely slow unlike in the case of iOS 5.1 and the iPads. Both these problems are expected to be addressed by the rumored Google Nexus tablet built by ASUS.
According to the source, Google and ASUS plan to launch a 7-inch Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet at an ultra low price tag of $149. At $149, you get a pure Nexus tablet that will receive the latest Android updates quick, as well as come with a price tag that is less than half of that of the New iPad 3. It will also be Android 4.0 ICS based which means that just like how the iPhone and iPad run the same iOS version making apps easily compatible, we can expect this tablet to be compatible with all Android apps that are optimized for Android 4.0 phones.
Whether this will be enough to take the spotlight away from the New iPad 3 still remains to be seen, but what is certain is that it will stand tall above the other Android tablets in the market, including the quick-selling $199 Amazon Kindle Fire.
Would a $149 pure-Android ICS Nexus tablet with a 7-inch display, quad-core processor and guaranteed updates be enough to sway you away from an iPad 3? Sound off in the comments below.
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