Google Inc's "Nexus 7" tablet is off to an encouraging start, with
major retailers running out of the gadgets as the Internet company's first entry
in an increasingly crowded market showed up in U.S. stores on
Friday.
GameStop said on Friday it had already run through its first two allocations
of the tablet, co-developed by Google and Taiwan's Asustek that starts at $199
and has drawn glowing reviews from major gadget reviewers.
Sam's Club, the warehouse chain owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N),
and Staples (SPLS.O)
listed the device as being out of stock on their websites as of Friday. Office
Depot's website continued to offer the device for sale as of the
afternoon.
Google unveiled the 7-inch tablet, which the company hopes will allow it to
better compete against Apple Inc (AAPL.O)
and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O)
and funnel more people into its trove of online content, at its annual developer
conference in San Francisco at the end of June.
Consumers have been able to pre-order the tablet from Google and several
retailers in past weeks, and Google said it began shipping devices to consumers
on Friday.
"We blew through the first two allotments," a GameStop spokesperson
said.
A third allotment of preorders will be available in August. The game retailer
declined to share exact number of preorders.
The Nexus 7 uses Google's Android mobile software, which has become the most
prevalent operating system for smartphones globally, but has so far failed to
make a big splash in the tablet market.
By taking a greater role in the tablet arena, Google hopes to ensure that its
online services remain front-and-center to consumers, as tablets by Apple and
Amazon are increasingly becoming gateways to the Web and Web-based content such
as movies and music.
Google executives have been quoted saying that the company will not generate
a profit margin when the Nexus 7 is sold in retail stores. A report by research
firm IHS iSuppli on Wednesday estimated that the bill of materials for the $199
version of the device, which features 8GB of flash memory and a high-end Tegra 3
processor by Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O),
Apple still dominates the market for touch-screen tablet computers with its
two-year old iPad. Amazon.com's $199 Kindle Fire tablet is based on open-source
Android computer code, but the device features a customized interface that does
not use many Google services.
The Nexus 7 has drawn accolades from reviewers like the Wall Street Journal's
Walt Mossberg. Pundits reckon the $199 Nexus 7 may seriously threaten the
same-priced Kindle Fire, especially since Google's offering has a camera and a
higher-resolution screen.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, speaking to reporters on Thursday at
the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, said there was "immense demand" for
the Nexus 7 in the first week after it was introduced.
Shares in the company climbed 1.1 percent to $576.52, buoyed by a broader
U.S. market rally.
No comments:
Post a Comment