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Google is planning to open an online store to sell co-branded tablets running its Android mobile operating system. The online store would offer tablets made by Samsung Electronics Co and Asustek Computer Inc. The possibility of a Google-made Nexus tablet has been a major source of speculation over the past year. Google hopes the move will increase the adoption of its Android operating system in tablets. But selling tablets online could be challenging, since consumers often prefer to see the hardware in person before making a purchase. Google will sell the devices online through its own store and is considering the possibility of subsidizing the price in order to beat the Kindle Fire. Google's first tablet will reportedly be manufactured by Asus. It would be 7-inches and cost between $149 and $199, which directly targets the Kindle. The search giant had mixed results with a brief, earlier effort to sell its own Android smartphones, but the pressure is on to get the ball rolling for poorly selling Android tablets in a market dominated by Apple's iPad. Google first experimented with being a device retailer when the original Nexus One launched in 2010. The experiment ended badly for Google due to limited demand and the difficulty of handling customer support. Although Google has continued to produce its own Nexus devices, the company has transitioned to selling them through various retail partners, including mobile carriers and Best Buy. Nexus devices are no longer directly available to regular consumers through Google's website. Android has been a big success in smartphones, but Android tablets have yet to make much of a dent in Apple's huge iPad business. Perhaps the strongest competitors today are from Amazon, and those tablets are based on a fork of the Android OS, for which Google receives no payment. "Clearly, Google is in a difficult position," said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at IDC. Google now relies on retail and carrier partners to sell Android smartphones, Android has become the world's No.1 smartphone operating system, ahead of iPhone-maker Apple Inc. But Apple still dominates the market for touch-screen tablet computers with its two-year old iPad. Amazon's Kindle Fire is based on open-source Android computer code, but the device features a customized interface that does not use many Google services. Succeeding in tablets is important for Google because it will make Android even more attractive to developers. "Their goal ultimately is to have the OS on as many devices as possible," O'Donnell said. Google started selling its own Android smartphone, the Nexus One, in 2010, but it closed the online store six months later because it wasn't successful. Amazon can afford to sell tablets at a lower cost than many of its rivals because the company is banking on content and application sales to make up the difference. Google has been working to build up its own content library and could be positioning itself to pursue the same approach. Google has recently taken steps to streamline its various content distribution channels into a more unified service. Hello, everyone, if you are interested in Video Converter for Mac, and you will get more what you want. Post a comment in response: |
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