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A Google logo is seen at the entrance to the company's offices in Toronto September 5, 2013. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

The Google Nexus 9 which comes with an 8.9-inch display screen was announced this month. It was launched a day before Apple revealed the all new iPad Air 2. According to Alebrto Villarreal who is the head of industrial design for building the Google Nexus 9, the tablet was not designed to compete with the iPad Air 2.

Through an interview with Engadget, Vilarreal expressed that the Nexus 9 was designed to inspire other Android tablet manufacturers to build premium quality tablets to the market. According to PhoneArena, what Vilarreal said about the Nexus 9 indicates that he is concerned with the Apple iPad Air 2.

PhoneArena states that there are two main reasons for launching Google Nexus devices. The first one is to launch a flagship model with vanilla edition of Android that receives the latest updates before other Android devices. This makes the Google Nexus device a perfect reference model. The second reason is that Google wants to show the other Android device manufacturers what sort of quality product that runs on Android can be built with an affordable price tag.

The specs of the Google Nexus 6 phablet indicate that it is not an affordable flagship handset and it comes with a price tag that is similar to the pricing of the premium smartphones from other brands, claims PhoneArena. The Google Nexus 9 seems to be low-priced tablet. The 32 GB model (without cellular connectivity) is available with a price tag of $399. The original iPad Air from 2013 is also available with the same price. However, the Nexus 9 built by HTC has powerful specs like 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 chipset and Kepler graphics.

Vilarreal also spoke on why Google selected HTC to build the Nexus 9 tablet. He said the Google was impressed by the simple design of HTC One. It is devoid of unnecessary features and the design is focused on usability.

The Google Nexus 9 preorders have stored through Google Play Store and retail sites. The HTC Nexus 9 will be available for direct purchase from November 3. The cellular version of the tablet will available from November 12.