GameStop Taking Galaxy Nexus 7 Pre-Orders
GameStop is now taking pre-orders for Google's new Nexus 7 tablet. — The retailer confirmed this week that it is accepting pre-orders in U.S. stores and online for the 16GB version of the Nexus 7, which costs $249.99.
Context & Ripple Effects
Two days after Google made the Nexus 7 official with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a $199 entry price, GameStop confirmed it is taking U.S. pre-orders for the 16GB model at $249.99, both in stores and online. The pickup was unusually broad for a retail-channel note: The Verge, CNET, Computerworld, the Los Angeles Times and others ran the same-day story.
The timing matters because reviewers had just named the $200 Nexus 7 the best tablet at its price point, framing it explicitly as a run at Amazon's Kindle Fire. A game retailer carrying it on day one puts Google's tablet in front of a mainstream, non-geek customer base that Google Play alone does not reach.
First-order effects
- GameStop adds a general-purpose tablet to its assortment, letting walk-in customers reserve the 16GB Nexus 7 at $249.99 ahead of the device's July launch.
- Early U.S. demand for the tablet now flows through brick-and-mortar checkout lines as well as Google's own Play store, expanding who can buy one at launch.
Second-order effects
- Other national chains face pressure to match the SKU, turning the Nexus 7's rollout into a shelf-space contest among big-box and specialty retailers.
- Amazon's Kindle Fire, the incumbent in the sub-$250 segment reviewers cast the Nexus 7 against, now meets a Google-branded rival on physical store floors where Fire previously faced little in-store competition.
Third-order effects
- If first-day retail distribution becomes standard for Nexus hardware, Android's tablet push shifts from online-only sales to mainstream shelf presence, widening the audience for the Jelly Bean-era effort to curb platform fragmentation.
- For specialty game retailers, stocking tablets points toward broader consumer-electronics assortments as general-purpose devices compete for the same living-room time as consoles.
The trend: Google is pairing aggressive Nexus pricing with broad retail distribution to carry the sub-$250 tablet fight against Amazon's Kindle Fire into physical stores.