Google will not take long to respond to Microsoft's announcement of its new Surface tablets according to reports, which suggest its own Nexus tablet could be unveiled at the end of June.
According to Digitimes, quoting unnamed suppliers, a seven-inch Nexus tablet will be announced at Google I/O, the developers conference.
The tablet will be co-developed by Asus, according to Digitimes, and will cost just $199.
It was not possible to verify the claims but the idea chimes with known details. The Google tablet has been rumoured for a while - and was mooted in December by Google CEO Eric Schmidt who told an Italian newspaper: "In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality."
But at that size and price point it seems more likely Google's target is the Kindle Fire reader - and the many cheaper Android tablets currently on the market.
Still, several industry analysts and bloggers said after Microsoft's announcement that Google should be feeling the heat - perhaps even more so than Apple.
Michael Fisher, writing for Pocket Now, said:
"Google missed its chance to generate significant buzz for Android on tablets, first by shipping a half-baked Honeycomb, then by introducing the far-superior ICS without properly motivating the development community to write the apps needed to make it truly compelling.
"Meanwhile, Microsoft has a new platform ready to go in two flavors, and two new, well-designed devices to run them."