Google Tablet to take on Kindle Fire?

Sources suggest so

5 January 2012 13:57 GMT / By Rik Henderson

It has often been rumoured that Google will be looking to take on Apple head-to-head in the tablet space in the near future, and its acquisition of Motorola would seemingly help with the hardware side of things. However, rather than take on the iPad, reports now suggest that the software giant will be targeting the 7-inch Kindle Fire instead.

According to Digitimes, sources from Google's upstream supply chain state that the company is looking to release a similarly-sized 7-inch device in March/April time. They also claim that its price point will be around $199 in order to compete with Amazon directly, except the Google tablet will come with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) from the bat.

It's no secret that, Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, revealed that the company plans to release a tablet device in the next 6 months, but he said that it would be "marketing a tablet of the highest quality", not a cheap rival to the Kindle.

With that in mind, we're not as convinced as Digitimes seems to be that Google's focus has turned from Apple to Amazon, no matter how successful the Kindle Fire was this Christmas gone.

What do you think? Will Google take on Amazon or Apple... or both? Let us know in the comments below...

Via: digitimes.com

Full tags

Google, Tablets, Ice Cream Sandwich, Motorola, Amazon Kindle Fire