Reports: Google and Asus on brink of cut-price tablet launch

Search giant and PC vendor expected to unveil $199 Nexus 7 tablet this week

Google and Asus are on the brink of launching a co-branded tablet PC priced at less than $200, according to reports.

Rumours have been circling for some time that the search engine giant will unveil the Nexus 7 tablet during its developer conference, which is taking place in San Francisco this week. A Reuters story cites an unnamed Asus executive confirming that the two firms will launch the device imminently and that it is "targeting Amazon" and its Kindle Fire tablet.

Gizmodo Australia reports that it was leaked specs of the Google/Asus offering, which will reportedly retail at $199 (£127) for an 8GB model, and $249 for the 16GB version. Other key features will include a 7in screen and a 1.2 megapixel, front-facing camera.

Google is set to become the second big-name software vendor to jump into the tablet space this month, after arch rival Microsoft took the wraps off its soon-to-launch Surface device last week.

The Google and Asus device will go head to head with the Amazon Kindle Fire, which has been on sale in the US since November. According to data from DisplaySearch, Amazon snagged a four per cent share of the global tablet market in 2012's first quarter, placing it third in the vendor leaderboard, behind Apple and Samsung.

The Kindle Fire 2 is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks, with a European launch of the device finally set to take place this year.