Tablet News - Week Ending 5/18

     It has been a while since I posted here so I apologize.  For this post, I am posting a summary of recent tablet news for the week ending 5/18/12.  So let's get started:

     First up is the continued rumor that Apple will launch a 7" iPad to combat the Kindle Fires of the tablet world and the rumored Google Nexus Tablet.  Although Steve Jobs was against launching a 7" iPad, Tim Cook (Apple's current CEO) may feel differently.  Apple has, of course, not confirmed they are releasing a 7" iPad so this is all rumors for now.  My opinion is that it would make sense for Apple to release this model as long as it is aggressively priced.  I believe they already have dominated the larger (9 - 10" screen) and more upscale pricing ($499+) levels.  They cannot continue to grow sales by releasing a new version of the iPad each year.  Attacking a lower price point (around $250) would make sense as that would open up a new market (people who cannot afford iPads) for Apple.  Let's see if that happens.    

      Second news is that Google will be selling Nexus smartphones and tablets directly.  It has already been confirmed that Google will launch a Nexus tablet later this summer.  Again, it would benefit Apple if they launch a lower priced iPad because this Nexus tablet should be very competitively priced ($200 - $250).  By selling directly to consumers (this applies more to smartphones than the tablets), Google is releasing a pure Android product unlike the bloatware that carriers like to attach.  Also, this should allow quicker OS upgrades.  There is a lot of finger pointing as to why it takes so long for a phone to receive an Android upgrade (there are many newer phones still running Android 2.3 when Android is on 4.0).  Carriers are largely to blame for this.  Again nothing has been confirmed but it is anticipated that these Nexus products will launch during Thanksgiving for that important holiday time period.

     Third news of the week is that Amazon is launching a 10.1" version of its Kindle Fire according to DigiTimes, a tech news site that comments on upcoming products.  With the rapid success of the 7" Kindle Fire, Amazon will be launching a larger version for those who crave a bigger tablet.  Again no confirmation from Amazon but this is no secret that Amazon had 3 versions of the Kindle Fire in mind when they launched the first tablet.