Google teams with Asus on upgraded Android 4.3

Summary: Google catches up with a number of Android and Chrome announcements that didn't make the cut (or weren't ready) at I/O in June.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Less than a week after sending out invites to the media with virtually no details other than a location, date, time and name of the host, Google unveiled the next generation of the Nexus 7 on Wednesday morning.

That host was Google senior vice president Sundar Pichai, who now oversees the Android unit following Andy Rubin's departure from the department in March. Pichai continues to lead the Chrome and Apps team as well.

See also: CNET's live blog: 'Breakfast with Sundar'

Thus, given Pichai's role at Google, rumors started to run rampant that we were getting a new Nexus tablet, another Chromebook, or a new version of Android ( or maybe all of the above) considering these items were virtually absent from the lengthy Google I/O keynote back in June.

The morning kicked off with the promise of both Android and Chrome announcements.

Commencing with Android, Pichai cited IDC, Gartner and internal Google data that by the end of 2013, consumers are going to buy more tablets than both consumer and corporate PCs.

Thus, Google is finally giving its Nexus 7 the first major upgrade in a year since it first debuted at I/O 2012.

More to come...