Days after Samsung launched the new Android 4.0 Nexus phone in Australia, Google has confirmed that they are developing a premium Nexus tablet which is due for release in 2012.
Google chairman Eric Schmidt said that the new tablet will really take it up to Apple and their new iPad 3 which is expected in the first quarter.
“In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality,” he said earlier this week.
Google has already had a hand in the development of the Motorola Xoom, with insiders tipping that Motorola will be the first to launch the new Nexus tablet offering.
The Daily Telegraph in the UK said that Amazon’s Kindle Fire, based on Android, has presented the strongest challenge to Apple so far because of its relatively low price, but it has faced criticism over the usability of its software.
Mr Schmidt paid tribute to Steve Jobs’ role in kickstarting the tablet market, describing the iPad as “amazing”.
“Steve Jobs was the Michelangelo of our time,” he said. “A friend of mine and a unique character, able to combine creativity and visionary genius with an extraordinary engineering ability.”
“Steve realised the revolutionary potential of the tablet and created an amazing product like the iPad,” he said.
In the smartphone market, Google designs the Nexus range as both a testing ground for new versions of Android and to show off cutting-edge hardware. The most recent device, the Galaxy Nexus, is manufactured by Samsung.
Mr Schmidt said that competition between Android smartphones and the iPhone will be “brutal”.
