Rumors have been circulating for the past month that the UK retailer Tesco planned to launch their own Android tablet and now it seems those rumors are about to come true. Tesco will unveil a new device, expected to be a low-priced own-brand entry into the tablet market on 23rd September. It has sent our invitations using the Phrase "We've got something to show you" and using Tesco's new "Hudl" trademark.Tesco is reportedly sending out press invites today for an event next week. No one really knows what the event will be about, but some are speculating that Tesco will unveil their tablet. Ben Wood, mobile analyst with research firm CCS Insight, suggested that Tesco might try to price the device, expected to have a 7in screen, at 99 pounds.Tesco might be able to hit the 99 pounds price using a cashback style promotion. Wood suggests: "I can see Tesco using substantial discounts on other services such as bundled media from Blinkbox, or vouchers for discounts on petrol or groceries through it Clubcard loyalty scheme. The tablet market is unbelievably competitive with extremely narrow margins, but that's something Tesco is used to." The 8GB Amazon Kindle Fire costs 99 pounds from Amazon, while google's newest Nexus 7 costs 199 pounds for the 16GB model, while a 16GB version of Apple's iPad mini currently costs 269 pounds. Wood told, Almost 6m tablets wwere sold in the first half of 2013, and demand is expected to accelerate into Christmas. A September launch would put Tesco's tablet device in prime spot for the Christmas Sales, although price is likely to be a key issue.
Tesco applied for a Trademark in February for the Hudl name to cover a wide range of goods, including tablets and accessories. The anticipated wide range of goods, including tablets and accessories. The anticipated announcement set for 23 September, follows a move to withdraw consumer electronics sales from Tesco stores, after the retailer's chief executive Philip Clarke said that it would be scaling back on sales of products such as flat-screen TVs, as they "quite frankly take up a lot of space and don't take a lot of money." The latest predictions from industry analysts say that the Tesco tablet will be a subsidized device with a price tag between 99 pounds and 129 pounds. Of course, that is merely speculation, at this point we don't know for sure that the tablet exists, much less its price.