Google is out of the tablet business and, frankly, for several reasons, most people probably won’t care.
First, tablets — for most people — are kind of unnecessary. When the iPad was first introduced, that tablet filled the niche between little smartphones and heavy laptops. But smartphones have gotten bigger and laptops have gotten lighter, so that niche isn’t as big as it once was.
A large smartphone is big enough for many tablet tasks like reading books, watching video or even surfing the web. And with many laptops weighing in at under 3 pounds, a lightweight laptop is light enough to carry around if you need a larger screen and a keyboard.
Sure there are exceptions, which is one of the reasons people still buy iPads (though the market has shrunk), but most people simply don’t need a tablet if they have a phone and a laptop.
Kids and cheaper tablets
One exception is children, especially very young kids who can benefit from a tablet. That’s where the iPad has done pretty well but so have Amazon Fire Tablets which, starting at $50, tend to be a lot less expensive than iPads or Android tablets yet have plenty of great apps for kids. Although the Fire Tablets are based on Android, they are not pure Android but there are plenty of apps that run on Fire tablets. Other companies, including Samsung, are still making Android tablets so, even without a Google tablet, there are plenty that will run Google’s Android operating system.,
Chromebooks taking over
Another big reason for Google to exit the tablet business is so they can concentrate on their Chromebook laptops, which are doing very well in the education market. Chromebooks are less complicated and, typically (but not always) less expensive than Windows or Mac laptops. They run the Chrome operating system which allows apps to run within a browser. Chrome can also play host to some Android apps.