The 21st century technocratic rivalry might well give the Roman Gladiator fights a run for the money. Whether it’s on the software front or on web technology innovations tipping one manufacturer to another, have been the recurrent theme in the past decade. In the early days of computing it was Apple vs. Microsoft. The internet added another Gladiator to the arena, Google. Starting out with a search engine service (which went on to become and stay as the best/most widely used in the world), Google made it a mission to revolutionize the web technology.
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A Cheap yet Powerful Tablet PC
Nexus 7 is a tablet, developed in collaboration with Asus. Like all devices in the Nexus series, it runs on an unchanged version of Android OS, as released by Google. It has the latest, Android 4.1 Jellybean and really, as the name suggests, it is indeed as smooth as a Jellybean. It’s powered by Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1 GB RAM and 12 cores of Graphic units. These hardware specs are a complete surprise to be expected from a $199 tablet.
Android 4.1 has been enhanced to avoid lags and has an increased ease of switching between running apps. As the official Google blog claimed, with Nexus 7 Google has waged a war against lags. Google made it a point to make the user believe that Nexus 7 is all about fun with minimum fuss. Add to that the superb looks, comfortable grip and a crisp 7” HD screen; you have an enviable device.
Impact on Tablet Market
The tablet PCs market is currently led by Apple iPad, and with Apple branding it is more of a style icon. However, starting at $399, the iPad consumer-base is skewed towards the premium segment. That leaves a major chunk of market open. It is easy to realize that any device managing to lure this share of the market, would be a smash hit. Many companies have been trying to do it, but without considerable success. It seemed almost impossible to deliver a tablet which runs smoothly and costs low enough for many people to buy. Subsidizing the hardware seemed the only likely option to lower the price.
Google Nexus 7
Google’s Strategy
Nexus 7 has the Google’s unmatched web technologies as its backbone. The most important of them on this front is the Google Play Store, which initially was a store for Android apps, now sells eBooks, music, movies, and even seasons of many TV series. Nexus 7 comes with a $25 credit at the Play store, which indicates that Google is relying on the revenue from the store purchases to cover the subsidies on the hardware.
This strategy has worked well in the past, and with Nexus 7’s features and ease of use, there is no reason why it would fail. Gaming companies have followed similar strategies with huge success. Amazon started out a similar strategy in the tablet market, exploiting its huge storefront with Kindle Fire. It could be seen as the digital window to its storefront. Interestingly Kindle Fire is also priced at $199.
Effect on other Players
- Kindle Fire: It seems, Nexus 7 is a direct competition to Kindle Fire, and with Google’s already tried and tested Cloud services, it might edge Kindle Fire. Some complain that the music collection at Play store isn’t very versatile; the eBook collection isn’t large enough and not enough movies yet.
All those, with a little investment, are improvable. Amazon store front is unrivalled, and to encourage more people buying Nexus 7 rather than Kindle Fire, Google has to expand its Play Store.
- Apple iPad: Will the premium iPad users come down from the comfort of 10” tablet and iTunes Store to 7” Nexus 7 and Play Store? The probability is not abundant. But those who were saving for an Apple iPad would have the option of whether to all the way or buy a Nexus 7 instead.
Google and Apple have very contrasting strategies when it comes to technology. Apple closely guards each and every of its programs, while Google is known for giving the best development tools for its platform and preferring open source competition. This technically makes Google and Apple ‘archrivals’. However, it still remains to be seen if Apple tries to enter the low-price market to counter Google.
Effect on Indian Tablet Market
Many Indian companies have been trying to produce low-price tablets. Adam, by Notion Ink was an early attempt, but it failed miserably. So, anyone who has the wish to buy Adam would obviously grab onto the Nexus 7. However, as far as the much awaited Akash Tablet it is targeted for an entirely different type of population. Priced at around $100 it was never meant to be a competitor for the mainstream tablet market. It has the barely necessary capabilities, and is really meant for the purpose of education (i.e. for reading eBooks and streaming videos).
Measuring the impact of Nexus 7 on Akash tablets, BSNL Penta or even ultra-low price tablets like Micromax FunBook or Karbonn Tab would be like comparing apples with oranges. Google has no plans to start marketing in India till September, 2012. So, one has to wait how Indian market receives Nexus 7 while the Tab is surely being speculated to be an interesting addition to the tablet market, and it has all the makings of turning out to be a smash-hit when it rolls out in mid-July.