Rumors of a Nexus tablet backed by Google aren’t new. It has been the trend with smartphones (or superphones as Google calls them). Now, people expect Google to do the same for tablets. In 2010, Google under the Nexus program worked with HTC to bring out the Google Nexus One phone, since then two more phones, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus have been released with the help of their partner, Samsung. Delivering a stock Android experience, the Nexus phones have done their bit to make Android the most popular smartphone platform around us. However when we look at tablets, such dominance is far from Google’s reach at the moment. 

7-inch tablet

Google needs a Nexus tablet and they need it now. While the rumors of Google’s 7″ Nexus tablet along with Asus coming out in June might be true, I am astonished to see that people expect Google to fight back into the tablet market with the Nexus tablet. Lets be clear, a Nexus device is never the most premium and best config out there. It isn’t meant to sell in multi millions, but rather do a show of strength for the Android platform and give developers a pure Android experience with fastest rollout of software updates. And that’s exactly what Android tablets need at the moment. iPad leads the tablet market with thousands of tablet customized apps available on the platform. That would be the first target for Google, getting quality tablet apps on the Play store. Once done, they can certainly work forward to get hardware champs like Samsung and HTC to get the mass adoption.

The point of worry is the fact that rumors point towards a $149 tablet with a 7″ screen from Asus / Google. That would mean that Google wants to mass market an Android tablet like the Amazon Kindle Fire. This IMO is a distraction from what the Nexus initiative is meant for. Google should be looking at a 9-inch – 10.1-inch tablet and focus on getting quality apps, popular websites tablet compatible and add value for the Android ecosystem, not mass sell cheap 7″ tablets. That said, lets hope Google does the right thing.

The author is a smartphone / tablet junkie and a contributing editor at iPhone Help.