Google chairman Eric Schmidt has announced that his company plans to make and sell a high-end notepad to compete head-to-head with Apple’s popular iPad. If successful, it will be the first, as many others have tried and failed. Fortune magazine, in an article about the announcement says they believe a notepad from Google has a far better chance of success than the others that have come before, due mainly to the fact that none of them have dared put out an actual high-end notepad, preferring instead to play it safe and assume consumers won’t pay big money for anything that doesn’t have an Apple logo on it.
The news of a new competitor to the iPad has been greeted warmly overseas, as an article in the British newspaper The Telegraph suggests that many Europeans have been put off, or even insulted at the low level attempts thus far to capture some of the magic that the iPad has found in its faithful followers.
The new notepad is to be sold under the Nexus flag at Google, a sure sign that it’s a hot commodity and to be taken seriously as thus far, as is noted in the Fortune article, only devices developed and manufactured by Google themselves have been deemed worthy of the label. What’s not clear is if the Nexus name itself is a not so veiled attempt to capture some of the sterling reputation of the Lexus line of cars by Toyota.
At any rate, it’s clear the new notepad will run the standard Google operating system, the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Platform, as is the case with its high end Smartphone. Not so clear is if any additional features will be planned to set the iPad apart from its chief rival.
The Telegraph notes that Google has already been a part of another notepad project, one built by Motorola, which did very little to take away sales from Apple, though it’s hoped that Google learned a thing or two in the process. That’s probable, because since that time, Google has entered the hardware market when it bought Motorola’s hand-held devices division.
In his announcement, Schmidt was short on details, such as when exactly consumers can expect to see the new notepad in stores, or how much it will cost, or what it will be called for that matter. All of which tends to remind customers of another company that knows a thing or two about building hype, and very successful notepads.