Bring on the Nexus 7
My Android tablet just became more valuable. So did yours. Congratulations!
What happened? Google announced the Nexus 7, the 7″ Android tablet with some very impressive specs. At a price point that matches the Kindle Fire. Oh, and coincidentally, Google play now offers TV shows, plus the ability to purchase movies or TV shows outright.
Let’s recap: A 7″ tablet with an HD display that plays all your music, movies, TV shows and books from Google Play, plus access to Netflix and Hulu, and access to millions of apps. With an internal 12-core GPU for awesome 3D gaming. For $199.
Google just served notice to Amazon (and others) that it is serious about its Nexus line of devices. But more importantly, that it’s serious about the Android tablet ecosystem.
Now, I’m not planning on buying one, but that doesn’t matter. Plenty of people will. Scratch that: Lots of people will. That will, in turn, spur developers to spend more time designing apps that look great on Android tablets. Which will, in turn, spur the Android tablet market.
For a long time, Android tablets have been hampered by a less-than-robust market of tablet-friendly Android apps. Spotify, for example, only displays in portrait mode, which is horribly awkward when viewed on my docked Asus Eee Transformer. Until this week, even Google+ didn’t have a tablet-friendly UI.
That’s all about to change for the Android enthusiast and casual media consumer alike because the Nexus 7 is an extraordinarily attractive entry into the tablet market. Count on the Nexus 7, and the market followers which are bound to start releasing this fall, to boost Android tablet sales dramatically for the second half of 2012. That wave of activity is going to improve the experience for all Android tablets.
Get ready to enjoy the ride.
