By JOHN LETZING

Google Inc. unveiled a new tablet computer Wednesday called the Nexus 7 that rivals Amazon.com Inc.'s popular Kindle Fire in both size and price.


Associated PressHugo Barra, Director of Google Product Management, holds up the new Google Nexus 7 tablet Wednesday at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco.

During a presentation at the Internet search company's annual developer conference, Google said its tablet features a seven-inch screen and camera, and is designed to display books and other media available on Google's Play service.
The tablet is "an ideal device for reading books," Google engineering director Chris Yerga said during a demonstration. The Nexus 7 will be available for $199, significantly less than the cheapest-available Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet and on par with Amazon's Kindle Fire device.
The Google tablet is available for order on Google Play and will ship in mid-July, Google says.
The tablet runs on a new version of Google's Android software, dubbed Jelly Bean. That software will be also be released starting in the middle of next month, the company said.
Google demonstrated new features available in the software such as voice-activated typing on a device and audio responses to verbal Internet searches.
Google says some 400 million Android devices now have been activated. The new release of the software is "the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet," Google Android Product Management Director Hugo Barra said.
Google develops Android according to an open-source model that makes use of outside engineering and makes the technology available for free to device makers.
Thanks to its recent purchase of device maker and long-time Android partner Motorola Mobility, Google is expected to take a more hands-on approach to tailoring its software to related hardware.
Apple long has used a model that includes both in-house software and hardware engineering in tandem, as it has developed its popular iPad.
According to data from IDC, Apple held a 68% share of the worldwide tablet market in the first quarter of this year, well ahead of Samsung Electronics Co. and Amazon.com--each of which have developed their tablets on Google's Android software.
Write to John Letzing at [email protected]