Google ships Nexus 7 tablet, retailers struggle to keep up

IDG News Service - Google has started shipping units of the highly anticipated Nexus 7 tablet, but multiple retailers said the tablet has sold out and that they are struggling to fill orders.

GameStop has pulled the Nexus 7 tablet order page from its website, while Adorama and Staples said the tablet had sold out and that they were waiting for additional inventory. Retailers were taking pre-orders on their websites for the tablet, which was announced in late June and has a 7-inch screen, a quad-core processor, and the Android 4.1 OS code-named Jellybean.

GameStop has already delivered some Nexus 7 stock to stores for buyers who opted to pick up the tablet in-store. A GameStop store in New York had one tablet waiting to be picked up, and a store representative wasn't sure when a second wave of Nexus 7 tablets would arrive, guessing it could take a few weeks.

In an e-mail, a GameStop spokeswoman said she was not sure why the Nexus 7 order webpage was pulled, but added that an additional set of orders were being taken for fulfillment by August 7.

Adorama, a retail store based out of New York, posted a message on Twitter on Friday afternoon saying that the Nexus 7 had sold out and that it was shipping all the stock based on orders received. In response to a query on Twitter, Adorama said no Nexus 7 tablets were available in-store. On the website, Adorama is taking orders for the tablet with a tentative ship date for around "mid-August."

Staples on its website said it ran out of Nexus 7 inventory and asked users to check in between July 14 to July 18 as "additional units may become available." Staples earlier said it would start delivery of Nexus 7 between July 12 and 17 for orders placed by July 11, and was promising a delivery day of between one to three days.

Buyers can also purchase the tablet directly from Google on the Google Play store. Google is taking orders for a $199 model with 8GB of storage and a $249 model with 16GB of storage, and promising one to two weeks for delivery. The retail stores are largely selling only the $249 model.

Other retailers selling the tablet include Office Depot, which has listed the 16GB Nexus 7 as being on pre-order, at the same time listing the product as being in-stock. Office Depot is offering a delivery date of one to two weeks.

Some other online retailers are also taking orders, but say the delivery for tablets will start in August. A 16GB Nexus 7 listed on B&H Photo and Video's website was scheduled to start shipment on Aug. 15 until earlier this week, but now has been delayed to September 1. B&H said the tablet was released in limited quantities.