Google launches cut-price tablet, aiming for m-commerce recoup

Tuesday, July 3, 2012 - 14:53 by Mike Price

Search giant Google has followed in the footsteps of e-commerce firm Amazon, by announcing its own-brand tablet, known as the Nexus 7.

While neither of these firms is particularly known for its hardware and both rely on third parties to produce their tablets, it is the novel way in which the companies price their devices that makes them stand out.

The Nexus 7 is going to go on sale in the coming weeks, with the entry level model, with 8GB of storage space, sitting at £159 in the UK. If you want 16GB of storage, then you will need to pay just £199.

Both iterations will have seven inch screens, quad core processors and the Android 4.1 operating system, which should really see them priced at about twice the RRP they have actually received.

Google, like Amazon, is choosing to sell its tablets at cost and then recoup its investment over the course of the devices' lifespans, by encouraging users to purchase items via safe shopping online, using the Nexus 7 as a portal.

So while the consumer is getting an incredible deal on a high end tablet from day one, with there being no obligation to make any additional purchases, Google is hoping that it will be able to train people to appreciate the benefits of purchasing content on the fly, using their device.

Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet, which is still not available in the UK, had a heavily customised build of Android 2.3, which meant that it was easy for the company to channel the attention of users towards purchases.

However, Google is approaching this in a different way. While Android 4.1 will arrive in an unedited form, the limited onboard storage with no option to expand it with a memory card, will encourage people to buy content on a temporary basis from the Google Play store, placing safe shopping online at the heart of the experience.