SourceCode: Shaking up the 7-inch tablet space

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

A year ago, the 7-inch tablet space was occupied by the BlackBerry PlayBook, a few $500 Android tablets that offered a blown-up smartphone experience and $199 eBook readers running pared down versions of Android and focusing on content consumption. Today, the 7-inch tablet space is gearing up to be one of the most competitive areas in tech.

Both Acer and ASUS just revealed $150 Android tablets using cheaper processor alternatives to the Snapdragon and Tegra processors used in many competing products. Acer's B1-A71 tablet uses a Mediatek dual-core 1.2GHz processor to keep pricing down but all the other features are pretty much on par with existing 7-inch Android tablets from Samsung, Toshiba and Lenovo.

ASUS, who already makes a pretty impressive 7-inch tablet, Google's Nexus 7, just announced its MeMO Pad with a VIA WM8950 (1GHz) / Mali-400 processor but with many of the other features of the Nexus 7, including the LED screen. Pricing and features now put pressure on competing Android tablets (the iPad mini will likely continue to sell to its market but budget conscious consumers who aren't invested in iOS apps have more choice now).

The price-plunge in 7-inch Android tablets is quite dramatic since a year ago, it wasn't uncommon for companies like Samsung and Toshiba to come out with similar products ranging in price from $429 to $500. Products priced in that range have very little chance of being noticed this year, specially when the two biggest companies who made cheap netbooks, are focusing intently on the tablet space.

What is more interesting is how this will affect eBook readers and hybrid tablets (which offer a limited Android OS experience). They are now competing in price with full-featured Android tablets that have more apps and as a result can run a gamut of eReader software from various companies. 

How will other manufacturers respond to this race to the bottom in pricing? Will the low-cost processors also make their way to cheaper Android smartphones? 2013 promises to be a big one for small tablets.