• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, January 5, 2012

Though still a rumor, reports of Google developing a modestly priced Nexus Android tablet have pundits in a lather. 

“With prices of other Android tablets hovering around the iPad’s $500 entry point … a $199 tablet from Google would likely render partner offerings obsolete,” writes BGR. DigiTimes is reporting that the Nexus tablet will be a 7-inch device running Android, and will be priced to compete with Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire.

“If this rumour is to be believed, Google is targeting Amazon directly, and Apple may not be planning on introducing a shrunken iPad,” TheNextWeb notes.

“Maybe there's not a rumored Apple iPad in production to challenge the Kindle Fire after all,” seconds CNet. “Maybe the purported Fire fighter is actually a Google tablet.” Still, can Google seriously undercut the price of Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire? Suggests VentureBeat’s Devindra Harawar: “I don’t think so.”

In fact, in an interview before the holidays, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said: “In the next six months, we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.” Adds Harawar: “That doesn’t sound like Google is trying to take on the already cheap Kindle Fire, which notably cut many corners in hardware and software design to achieve that price.

As WebProNews reminds us: “Tablet rumors change faster than celebrity marriage licenses.”

What’s more, writes Business Insider: “The DigiTimes report feels a bit wishy-washy to us, since Google's Taiwan office denied knowing anything about a Google-branded tablet, so we're treating it as a major rumor.”