Rumors surfaced over the last week of a 32GB version of Google's very popular Nexus 7 tablet, possibly arriving as early as Oct. 24, a release date that would set up a showdown against Microsoft's new Surface tablets, which comes out on at Midnight Oct. 26. Today, word comes that the device will be priced at $260, a number which would certainly rival the Surface, if a report from Droid-Life is to be believed.

If the news is correct, Google's 32GB Nexus 7 tablet would offer consumers a tablet with twice the storage space of the cheapest Apple iPad at roughly half the cost.

Currently, the 16GB Nexus 7 retails for $249.99 through the Google Play Store. If the new 32GB model will indeed replace it, GottaBeMobile asserts that the new tablet will likely have the same price, not too far off from Droid-Life's estimate.

Another clue to pricing comes from Android and Me. The tech site unearthed a piece of evidence in a shelf tag that shows what appears to be the final pricing of the 32GB Nexus 7, which Google has still yet to even officially announce.

The photo (See photo here) reveals a retail price of £199.99 ($320.842) for the Nexus 7 32GB in the U.K. This is the same price that Google sold the Nexus 7 16GB in the UK, and should mean that Google will offer the 32GB model for the same price as the 16GB model in the United States as well. Of course, that's all confused a bit by the currency conversion.

Android and Me think the slip also confirms that the device will still have a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, although, no other specs were revealed by the tag. The site adds that there is an Ice Cream Sandwich logo where the Jelly Bean logo should be, but is speculating it's merely a mistake made by the retailer.

The industry currently seems primed for the success of 7-inch Android tablets. According to Pew Research Center, Apple has lost 29 percent of its share of the tablet over the last year due to the introduction of lower-cost, smaller Android tablets.

And the PC industry continues to flag in the face of new innovative tablets and handset devices. The PC market fared far worse than anticipated last quarter, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz

Moskowitz said that Gartner saw a drop in PC shipments last quarter of 8.3 percent from 2011 and an increase of only 2.5 percent from the second quarter. Those results trailed Gartner's estimates of a decline of just 2.1 percent from a year ago and growth of 9.4 percent from the previous quarter, he said in an investor's note Oct. 11.

"While investors had been preparing for a letdown, the magnitude of the miss was larger than what investors were expecting, in our view, and we see limited remedies in the near to mid-term," Moskowitz said.

Adding to PC's mounting pile of issues, Moskowitz doesn't expect Windows 8 to convince enough consumers to refresh their PCs. He further adds that sales of ultra-book tablet/PC hybrids have also been "disappointing," a situation unlikely to improve due to their relatively high prices.

Moskowitz believes that people are more inclined to refresh their smartphones and tablets two or three times before buying a new PC.

The analyst admits this a trend that will only continue and worsen. Any upturn in shipments would be "limited and temporary," Moskowitz added.

An unnamed source has told Droid-Life that resellers are expecting to receive shipments of the 32GB Nexus 7 "sometime around" Oct. 24, although the source said no official date has been confirmed. Droid-Life found that resellers are initially planning to sell the 32GB tablet for $259.92, although the site cautions that this price is just an estimate and is not related to what Google will actually charge for the device when it launches.

The price of Microsoft's Surface tablets is still unconfirmed as well. The cost of the RT version will reportedly be between $400-$500, excluding the smart cover/keyboard, and the Pro, out next year, should be priced between $799-$899, also excluding the smart cover/keyboard, according to Sameer Singh, an analyst at with Finvista Advisors, a mergers and acquisitions consulting group. 

While this certainly contradicts a report released earlier in the week from pc-tablets.com, which used a Dummies.com contest as evidence to suggest the Surface RT would be priced at $300, it is much more in line withthe broad price point suggested by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently.

"If you look at the bulk of the PC market, it would run between, say, probably $300 to about $700 or $800," Ballmer said to The Seattle Times. "That's the sweet spot."

Google Nexus 7 Specs

Display:
Type - 7 in, IPS TFT active matrix - LED backlight
Display Resolution - 1280 x 800 ( 216 ppi )
Features - Scratch-resistant surface, Corning Gorilla glass

Operating System:
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Processor:
NVidia Tegra 3, Quad-Core

Memory: 
Flash Memory- 8 GB
RAM - 1 GB

Wireless Connectivity:
NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

Camera:
Front-facing Camera - 1.2 Megapixel

GPS Navigation:
GPS receiver

Expansion and Connectivity:
Interfaces - 1 x Micro-USB

Battery:
Capacity - 4325 mAh
Run Time - 10 hour(s)

Miscellaneous:
Sensors - Gyro sensor, Accelerometer, Magnetometer

Dimensions & Weight:
Width 7.8 in, Depth 10.45 mm, Height 0.4 in, Weight 0.7 lbs