Google Partnering With Asus to Build Cheap Tablet: Report

The saying goes "If you need it done right, do it yourself." With the iPad making headlines all this week, Google's new line of defense to grab a stake in the tablet market might be to attack the low-end. Rumor has it that Google is partnering with Asus for a tablet that'll cost half as much as an iPad.

DigiTimes is back with another piece of intel that states Asus will build a 7-inch co-branded tablet PC with Google for release in possibly May.

The report claims that the Google/Asus tablet will cost between $200 and $250 β€” putting it in Amazon Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet sights. DigiTimes also states that the tablet will be the first shipped device to use the newly rebranded Google Play Store.

A partnership with Asus for a $250 tablet doesn't seem to bad. Anybody's who's done their homework knows that Asus is king of the low-end. After all, this is the company that birthed the cheap netbook category with its EeePC a few years ago.

It could also be the case that Asus is merely tweaking the 7-inch MeMO tablet it showed off at CES 2012 for Google's liking as the tablet is already quite capable with Android 4.0.3 ICS, Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of ram and dual-cameras.

Again, take these rumors with a grain of salt as previous rumors put LG as the builder of a "Nexus tablet."

One thing is for sure, now that the iPad 2 is only $400, the entire tablet industry is scrambling once again to compete.

DigiTimes, via Pocket-lint

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