(Image source: CNET )

 

BY GILLIAN STEDMAN

ANCHOR CARISSA LOETHEN

 

Google is expected to launch its very first tablet device in July, two months behind schedule. The Wall Street Journal has more.

 

“Of course these are going to be tablets that Google is not building on its own right they’re going to be collaborating as always with the manufacturers that make tablets like Asus and Samsung and Sony and many others.”

 

The current design was ready in May, but the launch day was reportedly pushed back in order to tweak the device and reduce its overall cost.

 

A tech blogger from Gizmodo says, Google is reducing costs in the struggle to match its competitors.

 

“The drive to get the 7-inch tablet's price lower than $250 makes sense with the success of the $200 Kindle Fire. That seems like Google's real competitor here, since we already know that Apple isn’t all that concerned about what's going on in that arena.”

 

But The Verge says there may be other reasons for the holdup.

 

“Some reports have suggested Google wants to delay its tablet until after June so it can install the next version of Android, codenamed Jelly Bean.”

 

The principal analyst of J.Gold Associates tells Mashable — Google has gone through this before with the Nexus phone.

 

That time, it succeeded.

 

“The idea is to gather the market around a point of gravity and that’s what the tablet market needs. If you look at what’s out there now, there’s one of everything for the different versions of Android and it’s a mess.”

 

Along with the tablet launch, Forbes reports that Google may create an online store to sell the device directly to consumers.