Hot on the heels of recent rumors talking about an upcoming seven-inch Google Nexus tablet — to arrive sometime in the second half of the year — comes a report claiming that Asus will be the OEM that will build the “pure Android” slate.

Since Motorola — which was the partner for Honeycomb on the Xoom — is now part of Google it would have been just normal to use the company as a preferred OEM. However, reports claim that Asus — who brought an impressive number of Android tablets to MWC — will be the one. The information comes from unnamed, but claimed reliable sources who also seem to have a price attached to the device rumored: $199.

We know that Amazon set a new standard in Android tablets with its Kindle Fire both form-factor and price-wise. What the market is currently missing is a Nexus tablet — pretty much like the Nexus phone line-up — which will offer the pure Android experience. Asus tablets are pretty close to stock with no big customizations on top of the platform but whether it will be enough for Google to catch up to Apple (and its upcoming iPad) is yet to be seen. For what it’s worth, there’s no shortage of Android tablets on the market.

Source: AndroidAndMe