Nexus Accessories and why sometimes it's an annoyance living "Down-Under"

As the next Google I/O event fast approaches, and the possibility of a follow up to the Nexus 7 is announced, Asus have finally released the official Nexus 7 dock for sale on the Play Store in some major countries.

Source: TheVerge

But what's the deal with consumers getting hold of official accessories, months or in this case - three quarters of a year after the device has been released?

I don't understand why Asus even bothered at all to be honest. This dock overpriced, overdue and at this stage - others have already found replacements docks to satisfy their needs. Unless the dimensions of this dock will accommodate the next small Nexus tablet, an entity has to be held accountable. Not only that, but the product already has a 1-2 week delay out of the gate. It's all just poor form.

There have been reports of other who have managed to grab hold of their own official dock through retailers outside of the Play Store, albeit at a marginally inflated price - but that's all fine when an individual has been waiting so excruciatingly long for a product to be stocked in its 'official' store.

Nexus 4 Wireless Charging Orb - Source: TheVerge

The case is similar with the Nexus 4, which as far as I know, its wireless charging orb is so far only available in the U.S., and even that was a 3 month wait for consumers since the phone was released, and then delayed, constantly. If the U.S. is where Google releases most of their services first, I can only imagine the added delays the greater world will have to deal with. Even the Nexus 4 bumper case, which is exactly that - a bumper for your N4 has been consistently out of stock, or unavailable in the Play Store, where it's exclusively sold in Australia.

I just cannot understand why relations between Google and their Nexus partners haven't been a streamlined as they make it out to be. In blog posts of late, I've been having a go at Google, because quite frankly I'm ticked off with the way they've handled small and large issues - both of which carry grave importance for us, the end users of their products.

If reports are true that there will be major collaborations between Motorola and Google panning out in the future, it is then that I can see at least some of these problems wash away. With Google at the reigns (though they won't have anyone believe that), Motorola will grow with the input from Google's engineers and developers. Discussions about accessories may be sorted out a little better (or so one would expect), and perhaps finally we could have a range of devices that finally showcase 'Pure Google', from hardware, to software.

On the flip-side, I do give kudos to Asus for generally updating the rest of their devices in a timely manner, unlike most other OEMs, but the N7 does not suffer from this, and in place of this, Asus should have put greater emphasis on the importance of accessories for this product, for the sake of what a Nexus device of any nature means to the Android community.

This price doesn't even include the mandatory express shipping

Upon reading about the dock's release in the Play Store for $30, I had considered the purchase because I'm a purist when it comes to genuine accessories, and I could see a point in using it, particularly when under the assumption that it was worth only $30. Of course, I forgot to take in the fact that the price is usually massively inflated in Australia, and over here it's valued at $50, which is a blatant rip-off. I know our dollar over here is high, compared to other countries, but the reason why retailers over here are suffering so much is because most of the stuff consumers buy nowadays are online, for the simple fact that they're cheap as chips - often with shipping included.

So there's my two cents. What are your thoughts on the matter? Maybe from where you're reading, the prices are equally painful, and the availability of products are even worse. I maintain Google should make amends with their next line of devices - they owe it to us as the ones at the helm of Android.

It's no wonder rumours are flowing that Google are concerned with Samsung's success - Samsung actually care about releasing genuine accessories in a timely manner, and really giving consumers no other reason not to buy their products.