Proud parent Google has finally unveiled what we all knew was coming — its very own tablet to compete with Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet will sell for $199 and will run on Android software dubbed Jelly Bean. Cute.

The tablet was built with Asus, and is already available for order today on Google Play. Tablets should ship in mid-July, said Google.

Google is setting up the tablet as basically a conduit for its own Google Play store, where consumers can buy apps, movies, books and other content. In a nutshell, Nexus 7 is “built for Google Play,” said Hugo Barra, product management director for Android at Google.

Another product introduced at the company’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, is the Nexus Q. It’s a spherical Android-based device designed to distribute music and other content over home stereo systems and displays, by using your Android smartphones and tablets to control it.

Google launches Nexus 7 tablet, Jelly Bean and spherical Nexus Q device for home use [Computer World]

Introducing the Nexus 7 [Google Nexus YouTube]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.