Google Nexus 7 a sellout?

A few advisers have asked me about the new Google Nexus 7 tablet. “How does it compare with the iPad?” they ask. I respond that for now it has too small a screen for work use but stay tuned for a larger-screened version if they are successful with the 7-inch version (see BlackBerry PlayBook is here, but it's three inches too small for advisers). Well there are some signs of that success today. In fact Google seems to be having the opposite problem Research in Motion has. No, not one continuing to make money hand over fist while the other hemorrhages it — well yes that is true — no what I am referring to are tablet sales. Google appears to have underestimated how many orders would come in for its new 16GB Nexus 7 Android tablet (running the Jelly Bean version of the Android operating system and manufactured by hardware company Asus). Several media outlets are reporting that it is sold out at various retail outlets and online (Mashable.com: Google Stops Taking Orders for 16GB Nexus and PCMag.com: Nexus 7 Sold Out), though the 8GB model is still available. Meanwhile Research in Motion, on the other hand, severely overestimated how its PlayBook would do and continues to have piles and piles of its 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that have gone unsold. Google has kept exactly what the number of orders is under wraps, surely it is at the very least in the hundreds of thousands — anything less would not have allowed anyone to break even in terms of production costs. Regardless, it is nice to have someone other than Apple Inc. showing some signs of success with tablet sales. Visit Google’s Nexus 7 pages online for more information on it. For a review check out my friend and former colleague Sascha Segan’s take on the new tablet.