If The Wall Street Journal's sources are right, Google is going to rival Apple and Amazon even further-- with plans to directly sell Google-branded tablets via online store.
According to "people familiar with the matter," Google will be selling Asus and Samsung Android tablets later this year, with Motorola-built Google-branded devices to follow.
“Google believes the current model for selling tablets is broken,” the WSJ says. Will direct sales (and putting retailers aside) fix it? The company already tried selling the HTC-built Nexus One exclusively online back in 2010... managing to sell only around 100000 phones, according to Android team lead Andy Rubin.
Meanwhile both Apple and Amazon have no troubles with online hardware sales (especially Amazon, whose successful Kindle Fire is only available online).
Rumours have also been going on for a while on Google entering the hardware arena-- with Motorola-made Google-branded tablets and a wireless music streaming system.
Go Google Heightens Rivalry with iPad (WSJ.com, subscription required)