Google Quits Selling Tablets (techcrunch.com)

Google has quietly crept out of the tablet business, removing the "tablets" heading from its Android page. It was there yesterday, but it's gone today. TechCrunch reports: Google in particular has struggled to make Android a convincing alternative to iOS in the tablet realm, and with this move has clearly indicated its preference for the Chrome OS side of things, where it has inherited the questionable (but lucrative) legacy of netbooks. They've also been working on broadening Android compatibility with that OS. So it shouldn't come as much surprise that the company is bowing out.

Sales have dropped considerably, since few people see any reason to upgrade a device that was originally sold for its simplicity and ease of use, not its specs. Google's exit doesn't mean Android tablets are done for, of course. They'll still get made, primarily by Samsung, Amazon and a couple of others, and there will probably even be some nice ones. But if Google isn't selling them, it probably isn't prioritizing them as far as features and support. Android Police was first to break the news.

Comments

They killed it off after 2013.

[Anonymous Coward]

They had Nexus 7 releases in 2012 and 2013. Reviewed well. Sold well. People left anxiously awaiting an upgraded model. Zippo.

Re:They killed it off after 2013.

[Aighearach]

I bought a 2013 tablet in 2015, it was still a good buy two years later with only a small price cut.

Google just doesn't value all money the same. They view money earned from advertising as real money, and money earned from selling real products and services is some sort of taboo blood money or something. If it was unpopular they'd be more likely to keep selling it.

Tablets themselves are dying

[AuMatar]

Tablet sales worldwide are down year over year, and have been for several years. Most people just don't have a need for a device between their phone and their computer. Not surprising that it isn't Google's priority.

Google stopped selling tablets

[93 Escort Wagon]

Is that sort of analogous to a decade ago when Apple stopped selling servers? Meaning, practically speaking, they already weren’t selling them but finally admitted it to themselves?

It's a shame. I really like tablets.

[Qbertino]

One of my need buddies says for him there's no space between a phone and a Subnotebooks, but I really like tablets. They're lightweight, have long battery time, easy to handle, fast, ideal for media consumption and this semester I've seen more people at college use surface tablets with styluses (stylii??) than I actually can count.

I've gotten a cheap 8"Asus for reading notes and surfing recently, after giving my daughter my yoga 2 10" for her traveling. She loves the 18 hours of battery and the fact that it's basically a performance notebook without an attached keyboard. She uses a thin Bluetooth on if she needs one, which isn't that often.

Bottom line: there is a solid market for tablets and Google shouldn't drop it off it IMHO.