Google Nexus Tablet to challenge the iPad?

Eric Schmidt. front man for Google just announced that Google is working on a competitor to challenge the iPad for 2012. In comments made to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Schmidt called Apple co-founder Steve Jobs “the Michelangelo of our time”. Giving all due respect to the iPad and Steve Jobs is fine, but I don’t see the point in continuing in his glorification of Steve that Eric has been doing since Job’s death.  The iPad is a stellar tablet and has dominated the tablet market. But Google continues to lay down impressive numbers with smartphones and continue building an impressive marketplace which is a major component for Apple’s success. The Achilles heel for Android Tablets has always been the user experience. Honeycomb was a disaster and hurt device manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola, builders of the spec’s out hot rods Galaxy Tab, XOOM, and now XOOM 2. Perhaps it will be the Nexus brand, the flagship of Google’s smartphone handsets and it’s new Ice Scream Sandwich operating system that will improve the UX, add more optimization and battery life, and place the Nexus tablet  in position to contend against the iPad.

Eric Schmidt did not reveal much more than that, but this seems to be the next logical evolution for Google in their handheld device assault. Where I do think this is an excellent idea to harness the “pure Google” experience offered by the Nexus brand,  Google needs to be careful to not over price the Nexus tablet like Motorola did initially with the XOOM, and every effort to optimize the apps for a tablet experience needs to be made.

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