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"The race to offer the lowest-priced tablet on the market is rumored to reach a new level later this year, with Google reportedly planning to release a $99 Nexus 7 tablet.\r\n\r\nGoogle is said to be working with Asustek on two new versions of its Nexus 7 tablet, &amp;lt;a href=\"http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120926PD232.html\"&amp;gt;according to&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;DigiTimes&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;. The new models are expected to be thinner and will utilize panels made by HannStar display, sources told the industry publication.\r\n\r\n\"One of the models will be priced at US$199 while the other will be priced at US$99, and both models are expected to hit markets by the end of 2012,\" the report said.\r\n\r\nGoogle's rumored sub-$100 tablet is said to be in anticipation of Apple's so-called \"iPad mini.\" The company is expected to hold an event &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/08/25/apple_confirmed_to_hold_ipad_mini_event_in_october\"&amp;gt;in October&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; to introduce a new, smaller 7.85-inch iPad model.\r\n\r\nIf Google does release a new, less expensive Nexus 7 model this year, its debut would come only &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/06/27/google_unveils_android_powered_nexus_7_tablet_starting_at_199.html\"&amp;gt;a few months after&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; the launch of the $199 8-gigabyte Nexus 7. Google's low-priced tablet was seen as a response to the Amazon Kindle Fire, which reached that same price point last year while forking the open-source Android operating system to create Amazon's own separate platform.\r\n\r\n&amp;lt;div align=\"center\"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;img src=\"http://photos.appleinsider.com/nexus-120830-4.jpg\" alt=\"Nexus 4\"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;\r\n\r\nAmazon responded to the Nexus 7 by undercutting its price with a new low-end model &amp;lt;a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083Q04IQ/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=reality&amp;amp;camp=0&amp;amp;creative=0&amp;amp;linkCode=as4&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B0051VVOB2&amp;amp;adid=1HR9BW5CQZ92KX37WDWW&amp;amp;\"&amp;gt;for $159&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; which debuted earlier this month. The expanded Kindle Fire lineup goes as high as the &amp;lt;a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GFRBBW/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=reality&amp;amp;camp=0&amp;amp;creative=0&amp;amp;linkCode=as4&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B0051VVOB2&amp;amp;adid=1HR9BW5CQZ92KX37WDWW&amp;amp;\"&amp;gt;$499 price point&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; with an \"HD\" model that features integrated 4G LTE support and offers $50/year, 250-megabyte-per-month data plans.\r\n\r\nJust this week, Barnes &amp;amp; Noble also made a bigger push into the tablet space dominated by Apple's iPad as it introduced a new &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/26/barnes-noble-introduces-9-nook-hd-touchscreen-tablet\"&amp;gt;9-inch Nook HD+&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;. That device will be priced at $269 for a 16-gigabyte model, while the 7-inch Nook HD will cost $199 for an 8-gigabyte model."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/27/google-reportedly-planning-to-launch-99-nexus-7-by-end-of-2012>