Google Launches Nexus 7 Tablet To Compete With Amazon And Apple
Google Inc. on Wednesday introduced a new type tablet computer called the Nexus 7 to compete with the popular Kindle Fire & iPads in both size and price.
During a presentation at its annual developer conference, the giant Internet search indicated that the tablet has a seven-inch screen and a camera, and is designed to display e-books and other resources available in the Google service Play.
The tablet is “an ideal device for reading books,” said Chris Yerga, director of engineering at Google, during the presentation. The Nexus 7 cost $ 199 in U.S., like the Kindle Fire and much cheaper than the most basic model of the iPhone, Apple Inc.
Google Nexus 7 tablet
Google tablet will be available in the Google site Play and delivered from mid-July, the company said.
The tablet has a new version of Android mobile operating system, known as Jelly Bean. The software will also be released from the middle of next month, Google said.
Google showed new features available in software such as voice-activated typing and audio responses to verbal Internet searches.
Google said it has been activated so far some 400 million handsets with Android. The new software is “the fastest version of Android and polished so far,” said Hugo Barra, director of product management for the company.
Presentation of multiple devices and new Web services is part of the annual conference of software developers at Google, where the company hopes to gain the support of application developers and owners of mobile devices in a relentless battle with Apple.
The three-day event Google I / O start Wednesday in San Francisco a week after Microsoft Corp. announced it will add its own tablet to competition. The conference also celebrated after Google announced that CEO Larry Page will not attend or appear in the company’s call with analysts in a few weeks because of an undisclosed illness for which he lost his voice.
Page sent an e-mail to employees last week to say he had “nothing serious”.
More than 5,000 developers paid $ 900 for the event by Google, which sold out in 20 minutes when it went on sale in late March.
Apple conducted its own developer conference this month and also introduced software features to their mobile phones and computers that leave Google directly in its path.
Among the main concerns of Google is its ability to compete in the tablet market, as the software running on your Android so far only affected the Apple iPad domain.
Google is also expected to announce it will launch a service that allows other companies to quickly and easily rented computer servers to store data and run their websites and applications for internal use, an offering called Infrastructure as a Service, or IaaS for short in English, said people familiar with. That market is currently dominated by Amazon, Amazon Web Services with systems that feed thousands of companies, including the video site Netflix Inc. and consumer goods giant Unilever NV.
Google’s initiative, led by senior VP Urs Hölzle, is seen internally as a defensive measure against Amazon while capitalizing networks of Google data centers and servers as worldwide, according to people. Like Amazon, Google could rent the excess capacity on its network.
Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner Inc. Internet, estimated that Amazon is on track to generate about U.S. $ 2,000 million a year with Amazon Web Services, and the market grows 30% a year. ”It’s a market where Google should be involved because there is a general shift by companies” going from servers they manage on their premises to “cloud computing”, where servers are shared, he said.
A spokeswoman for Amazon declined to comment.
Image Credit – WSJ
