Nexus 7 threatens to push out Google’s Android partners

The latest trend for software manufacturers moving into hardware – as Microsoft and Google both recently announced their own tablets – could seriously impact relations with device manufacturers.

Although the flagship products are intended to establish a certain benchmark that will introduce a standard and invite competition among manufacturers to build on that, the strength of the brands themselves could well divide camps and pull in attention away from traditional partners such as, in Google’s case, HTC and Samsung.

Asustek is well positioned to benefit. According to a report on Digitimes, the company is well on target for its 3 million tablet PC shipment benchmark, but really, its success will depend on how well received the Nexus 7 is. The company has cancelled its original launch for the MeMo 370T 7-inch tablet.

As Digitimes‘ Daniel Shen and Steve Shen suggest, the dominance of Android in the smartphone market means Google’s own Nexus will not be a considerable concern, especially as it is priced higher than other already available models. However, the Nexus 7’s main concern is bringing Android tablets into the fray against Apple’s iPad, and the pricing is, ultimately, very enticing for consumers for a quad core machine.

Opening up the Android PDK may well go some way to appeasing vendors, but ultimately the Nexus 7 is well placed to win consumer support for Android in tablets. One thing industry commentators may agree on is that there is an abundance of Android tablets. However, so far, none have really set the world on fire. And if Google successfully pulls off the sale, it could end up pushing its own partners out of the market.