Google Nexus 7 available in Japan

Google decided to release their Nexus 7 in Asia, more specifically in Japan. Which was bound to happen sooner or later. The price of this device is 19,800 yen ($250).

Google’s Nexus 7 smartphone marks another important step for the American company. The fact that they chose Japan first to launch this model is an important landmark. It comes after Google already released the Nexus 7 in Australia. Other countries that have it in stock are the following: the UK, France, Germany, the US, Canada and Spain. The phone can be bought from Japanese retail stores on the 2nd of October this year. So you can offer it as a holiday gift to loved ones. Or to yourself, if you want.

But releasing the Nexus 7 in Japan was not an easy endeavor. Google had to first convince providers of content based in the country to share content. And, since there are many rivaling brands in Japan, the American company had an even more hard time. But they came with an offer that was hard to resist: selling movies from both Paramount and Sony Corp.

The release of this smartphone was done during a special event organized for it. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman at Google, said, during the event, that the launch is going to help startup companies based in Japan. Especially the ones for the shopping sector.

The Nexus 7 did not fail to attract the attention of Japanese consumers. According to Google representatives, the country is 3rd when it comes to the apps that users download from the Play store. As a result, the company plans on offering, via the Google Play feature, book titles in Japanese.

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Google’s competitors are big names. Amazon is one of them. However, this company did not release their Kindle in Japan. Then there is a brand called Rakuten Inc. They are offering Kobo, which is an eReader.

Clips that are uploaded on YouTube are watched, daily, by millions of users. The majority of them own either a tablet or a smartphone and watch the said clips from them, not from a TV. In Japan there are more than 50% of people who watch YouTube content from a smartphone. And this brings money to Google and other important names.

Still, Google needs to keep an eye on Apple. The latter are known to be very successful with their iPad gadget. Then we have Samsung and Barnes & Noble. If the Nexus 7 is to become popular in Japan, it will need a lot of adverts and interest from buyers.