Google has started selling its Nexus 7 tablet, co-developed by Asus, in Japan for JPY19,800 ($250) to extend the competition with Sony.
Japan will the first courntry in Asia outside Australia where Google has started selling its device that runs on Android OS.
The 7-inch 16-gigabyte device runs on Android’s latest version 4.1 Jelly Bean, features a 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU.
The device, which will be available in the Japanese retail stores on 2 October 2012, is already available in France, Germany, Spain, Canada, the UK and the US.
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said that the rapid-fire growth of the Android operating system will help Google’s 7-inch tablet catch on in Japan.
"Android has grown so fast it’s hard to keep up," Schmidt said.
"There are now more than 500 million Android users around the world."
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Google also announced that it will make available content in Japan by offering books and movies from studios like Sony and Paramount.
In July 2012, Nokia had claimed that the Google Nexus 7 tablet infringes some of its WiFi patents.
Worldwide media tablet shipments are expected to exceed 100 million units in 2012, with shipments reaching with Apple iPad dominating the market, according to a report by ABI Research.
Worldwide tablet market shipments are expected to reach 261.4 million units by 2106, according to the research firm IDC.
