Nexus 8 Release Date Draws Near as Verizon Starts Offering 32GB LTE Nexus 7 for Only $250
As the rumoured April 2014 release date of the Nexus 8 approaches, its predecessor, the Nexus 7, became even more attractive as U.S telco Verizon commence selling the pure Android device for only $250.
Verizon's pricing is cheaper by $100 as the same Nexus 7 2013 build with LTE access and 32GB of internal memory remains at $350 on Google Play Store, according to Droid Life.
Note that it took more than two quarters for Verizon to finally support the Asus-built Nexus 7, begging the question: Will the move signal the arrival of a more exciting slate from Google?
As market watchers would immediately suggest, discounting devices and highlighting its ready availability, in this case - the Verizon Nexus 7 is packed with affordable data plans, lead to the assumption that Google and Asus are clearing old inventories and making way for fresh stocks to arrive soon.
And what could be those freshly-minted Android toys? One bet would be the overly delayed Nexus 10 2, the manufacturer of which is said to be a toss among LG, Samsung and HTC. This one, however, is a long shot - for now.
A more solid guess would be the slightly larger Nexus 8, which according to a DigiTimes report last week will replace the 7-inch Nexus 7 and is slated to hit the market in late April. Asus remains as Google's manufacturing partner on this particular Nexus compact tablet, the same report added.
One reason given for the Nexus 7 retirement is it's not selling well, at least when compared to the industry-leading iPad Mini. So Google figured that an 8-inch Android slate would fare better against Apple's hugely popular 7.9-inch iOS slate - that should explain the whole upsize decision.
And perhaps even the Nexus 10 2 mothballing, which is a Google plan that continues to baffle.
Yet prior to tussling with the iPad Mini, the Nexus 8 would have to wait until all the Nexus 7 stocks have dried up, or at least most of it. One sure-fire way to do that is to tap distributing partners and in the U.S., Verizon's superfast 4G-LTE network could help the small KitKat 4.4.2 tab to move out a bit faster.
To possibly lure more buyers out of the iPad Mini realm, Verizon and Google is hacking down the cash demand to just $250 or $150 cheaper than the basic 16GB iPad Mini. Keep in mind that this Mini is Wi-Fi only and is restricted from accessing cellular signals while the Nexus 7's net connectivity could be always-on, thanks much to its LTE radio chip.
And thanks too to Verizon, users can browse through and connect to the Internet at all times with the second Nexus 7.
So will the next Nexus tab march down soon enough as efforts seem to ramp up for Google to get rid of existing Nexus 7s as quick as possible? The answer to that should start to unravel in the coming weeks.
For now, the waiting-game is on for the Nexus 8, which on its release date is expected to bump up the impressive Nexus 7 specs and features but likely to keep Google's solid pricing models for its beloved Nexus device line up.