Continuing their world-wide roll-out of the Nexus 7 Tablet, Google held separate events earlier this week in Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore introducing the 7 inch Android tablet to their respective markets. This follows the introduction last week in both Japan and India. South Korea in particular is considered an important market because after the United States it is actually the 2nd largest downloader of apps from the Google Play Store. Supporting their roll-out in each market, Google is also announcing the availability of both Hollywood and local language movies in South Korea.
Pricing and Availability:
In Singapore, the Nexus 7 will cost SGD399 for the 16GB model and be available September 29th. This translates to US$324.7, a slight premium over US buyers.
South Korea will in contrast pay 290,000 won or US$267.37 saving them a few dollars over their Singapore neighbors and it will be available in mid-October at retailers Himart and Lotte Mart
From the Malaysia Google Nexus 7 Launch Event
Finally, Malaysia also received their official unveiling of the Nexus 7 recently at a price of RM950 which is US$326.84, a similar premium to Singapore.
Now interestingly the Nexus 7 has been available in Hong Kong and Taiwan for some time...albeit unofficially through 3rd party retailers, although official announcements for these markets are expected soon as the roll-out continues. Another interesting fact we should mention is the simultaneous introduction of multicolored Nexus 7 smart covers in each of the asian markets. It begs the question why here in the U.S. we've only seen the grey and neon blue colors so far while other nations are getting the entire range of colors from the start. Perhaps a shortage of colored dye to blame?
We have a hunch we'll see more colors stateside before the holidays.
Well there you have it...if you live in South Korea, Singapore or Malaysia and have been waiting to get a Nexus 7 then your time has arrived. Welcome to the club boys and girls!
