A $199 Google tablet vs. Amazon’s Kindle Fire
There’s been a fair amount of speculation (some informed) about when or whether Google will enter the tablet fray directly. The latest rumors have Google introducing an Android tablet mid-year at a $199 price point — leading to additional speculation that this is supposed to quash the growth of Amazon’s Kindle Fire (also at that price and Android).
I think Google’s potential entry may have the opposite effect: it may legitimize a second pricing tier for tablets in the U.S.
Why do I say “in the U.S.?” Because globally, the $199 price point has already been broken, mostly by education efforts such as those in India, and may be further propelled by huge government-driven tablet adoptions for schools in Thailand, Australia and South Korea. We’re iPad-obsessed and, perhaps as a result, behind due to the cost of devices.
I delve into this further in my latest column at GeekWire. Coincidentally, it was written when I was immersed in the nerd news flow of that tech site, diving into a newsroom environment to help out for the first time in a decade, and writing 20 stories in a roughly 20-hour week of afternoons. Plus this column.
Read “Will a $199 Google tablet hurt or help the Kindle Fire?” over at GeekWire.
