NVIDIA: $199 Tegra 3 tablet on the horizon

Amazon caused quite a stir in the tablet computer market when it introduced its $199 Kindle Fire in late 2011. The device, though limited in functionality compared to some higher-end tablets, hit a price point that people could agree with, which helped propel the Kindle Fire into the thick of the highly competitive tablet market.

Soon, however, people may not have to sacrifice performance in order to get a more affordable tablet computer. In an interview with the New York Times, NVIDIA® CEO Jen-Hsun Huang indicates that a $199 Android™ tablet powered by his company's Tegra™ 3 processor could be on the market as early as this summer.

"We took out $150 in build materials, things like expensive memory," Huang tells the news provider. "At $199, you can just about buy a tablet at a 7-Eleven."

To date, $499 has been the price to beat in the tablet computer market -- a task that very few have accomplished. According to research firm IDC, Android managed to capture 44.6 percent of the tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2011. If NVIDIA is successful in its goal, the chipmaker may be instrumental in Android becoming even more competitive going forward.