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Mossberg, Pogue, Siegler: Google's Nexus 7 Trifecta Is Complete

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I have a theory about why The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, David Pogue at The New York Times, and venture capitalist/TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler seem to compete to see who can say the nicest things about Apple’s products: Apple’s products are usually pretty good.

Of course, I couldn’t prove this theory true beyond all doubt until today, when all three acknowledged that someone has finally built a very serious contender to Apple in a portion (albeit just a portion) of the market that Apple originally ignited with the iPad.

Well it’s finally happened: MG Seiger became the last of the trio of high-profile Apple admirers in the tech press to gush about Google’s Nexus 7 -- which went on sale last week -- Monday morning. Let's recap:

On July 4, Pogue declared...

[T]he iPad still makes a far more compelling total package (hardware, software, store). But at 9.7 inches, you’ll never fit that puppy into your breast pocket. If something smaller and lighter and far less expensive appeals to you, you’ll be thrilled by the Nexus 7, even if you have to wait awhile before you can find everything you want to read, watch and play on it.

...last Tuesday, Mossberg weighed in, with an even more positive writeup...

“After testing the Nexus 7 for a couple of weeks, I consider it the best Android tablet I’ve used. It’s a serious alternative to both Apple’s larger $499 iPad and to a more direct rival: Amazon’s $199, Android-based, 7-inch Kindle Fire. I prefer the Nexus 7 to 7-inch models from Google partners like Samsung, whose comparable product costs $250.”

And on Monday, Siegler caved:

Having used a 7-inch tablet for the past week, I now see it as an absolute no-brainer that Apple has to make an iPad with this form factor as well. Of course, such rumors have been swirling for a while — and now the smoke seems too thick for there not to be a fire. It’s coming — but when it does, Apple will find itself in a position it hasn’t been in for some time: being a second-mover to a good product already on the market (as opposed to being a second-mover to a bunch of mediocre-to-shitty products, as has been the case many times in the past).

If you’re an iOS person like myself, you obviously have to think about Apple moving into this space as well. And I think the Nexus 7 shows a few places where Apple can improve the 7-inch tablet space — namely in making a device just a bit larger so it’s easier to hold with two hands, and using their existing pay-as-you-go carrier deals to offer up 3G/4G connectivity. We’ll see.

But for now, Apple’s not in this space. And the clear winner in this space is the Nexus 7.

Apple’s got to play catchup. You heard it from Siegler first.