Only a week after Microsoft announced its aggressive move
into the tablet business, Google unveiled a new $199 Nexus 7 tablet and the Jelly
Bean or Android 4.1 operating system, which will be the successor to the Ice
Cream Sandwich, at the annual Google I/O developers' conference.
The pricing for the seven-inch tablet, which is matches the
$199 price tag for Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet, will put additional competitive
pressure on Apple, which has up to now dominated the tablet sector with much
higher priced devices. Microsoft has not announced pricing for its tablets but
indicated last week that prices would be comparable with other tablets.
The Nexus 7 will have a smaller screen than the 10-inch
iPads, weights about 12 ounces and runs on the Jelly Bean operating system. The
first devices should be available in mid-July.
