The rumor mill about Google's (GOOG) long-expected tablet computer is being stirred again Thursday, this time with a report that the company will start shipping a 7-inch model in June.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the rumors, originally reported by the blog DigiTimes.
DigiTimes says suppliers are set to ship about 600,000 units in June, and will ship more than 2 million by year's end.
The product, which Google is building with AsusTek, the Taipei, Taiwan-based maker of Asus computers, would hit the retail market in July, DigiTimes says.
Google, which on Wednesday closed its acquisition of mobile device maker Motorola Mobility, has said it will jump into the hardware market, while saying it won't give its own products any preference for its freely available Android mobile operating system.
And by some accounts, the tablet that Google is preparing could be a low-cost competitor to Apple's (AAPL) uber-popular iPad tablet.
While the iPad starts at $399, this new Google product could be priced as low as $150, say reports. At that price, it also would compete with Amazon.com's (AMZN) Kindle Fire, which starts at $199.
Google will benefit from manufacturing its own hardware, writes Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Baird Equity Research. Google's Android mobile software already is the most widely used, so it might as well be on Google's own machines.
"Google was likely motivated to become more directly involved in device development, with the potential ancillary long-term benefit of profiting more directly from Android's growth," he wrote in a note Wednesday.
Source:- Investor's Business Daily
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