Google announced a new Nexus tablet today. It was built by Asus, and is available on Google Play for $199 and $249 depending on whether you get 8GB of internal storage or 16. CNET has a condensed version of the livestream from the event here.
The Nexus 7 takes design cues from tablets like the Kindle Fire and iPad in that all three are designed simply. It's a slab of glass and plastic that doesn't detract from what is displayed on-screen. This allows the devices themselves to fade into the background and encourages the reader to engage with the content.
Google's new tablet has a 9 hour battery life, comparable to the two current bestsellers (8 for Kindle, 10 for iPad). Android 4.1 (Jellybean) even took a hint from Kindle Fire by putting Google Play content front and center on the home screen. And that brings us to the big question separating the Nexus 7 and the more established tablets: are customer's willing to buy in to Google's content ecosystem on a tablet.
Amazon and Apple created massive ecosystems that consumers bought into before the companies ever imagined a tablet that those ecosystems could tie in to. Google, on the other hand, was a search engine and email provider that created a smartphone operating system. Of course the reality is much more complex than the previous two sentences can describe, but at it's core I think the problem with a pure Android tablet is a trust problem.
It's not that Google makes bad devices; in fact, they make the software for terrific phones, highly-rated streaming boxes and innovative notebooks (Chromebooks, technically). But can Google break into the content delivery arena? Amazon originated as a content delivery company, starting with physical meda and expanding into the digital book, music and video markets as those developed. Apple was able to break into the music business, and later the video and book business, by leveraging consumer's desire to listen to music on the go (1000 songs in your pocket-Steve Jobs).
What does Google bring to the table? Customers have trusted Google to provide them with email service and other basic smartphone services. They trust Google's App Market. But many Android users buy music from the Amazon MP3 store, books from Amazon or Barnes & Noble and watch movies and TV on Netflix or Hulu. People just don't seem to trust Google Play for their entertainment needs.
Will Nexus 7 succeed? Google will probably sell enough to justify the device. There's a big market for Nexus devices and the folks that purchased a Kindle so they could flash ICS to a 7" tablet for $199 will be ecstatic. But success in the tablet market is not based on sales to niche markets. It's based on sales to the average consumer. It's hard to believe that average consumers looking for a tablet for movies, books and music will flock to the Nexus. In their minds, Google isn't an entertainment company. Oh, sure you can search forbooks and movies on Google, but when you're ready to rent or buy you click the Amazon link at the top of the Google Search page or open up iTunes and buy it there instead.
Andrew
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