Asus Memo 370T believe to be a predessor of Nexus 7. With the same specs and design, it is a Nexus 7 plus HDMI, Bluetooth, microSD slot, rear 8MP camera etc. By now, you hopefully already know about the ASUS MeMO 370T. On paper, the MeMO 370T is a spec’d out 7-inch slate that features nVidia’s powerful Tegra 3 quad-core system on a chip. This tablet screams top-of-the-line, yet ASUS will offer the tablet to consumer for $250. Why would they price this thing so low, you ask

In short, ASUS simply gets it. They understand that consumers want tablets, perhaps to even replace their laptops, but they don’t want them at laptop prices. Instead, consumers largely see tablets as cooler netbooks, and are looking to spend between $200 and $400 on these devices. Of course, the $500 and up iPad/iPad2 have bucked this tradition, but Apple has a long history of pricing themselves at the very high end of the market (or above), and still selling a multitude of devices to their fanbase.

The biggest reason Android tablet sales haven’t taken off is because they’ve been priced to compete with iPads instead of netbooks. Amazon proved this when they launched the Kindle Fire, the $200 eReader tablet hybrid that in 2 months has sold as many or more units than all previous Android tablets combined. HP’s Touchpad tablets sold out in minutes when they were dropped to $100-150 in HP’s inventory eliminating fire-sale. The $250 Nook Tablet has proven no slouch either, making Barnes and Noble’s nook line one of their most profitable divisions.

In order for tablet makers (including Apple) to compete, they’re going to have to continue to offer tablets for less, a point ASUS has certainly taken to heart with the MeMO 370T. The launch of the MeMO 370T was likely the biggest and best surprise of CES 2012, and we’re happy to see companies starting to offer powerful tablets at incredibly affordable prices. We hope to see this trend continue; in fact, we think it has to continue if Android tablet sales are ever going to take off.