Rumours have circulated over the past month that Google were working to develop a rival product to Apple’s widely anticipated iPad. Confirmation of this rumour has come from the US-based phone network Verizon. The Chief Executive of Verizon, Lowell McAdam, has confirmed they are working with Google to release a tablet model, running Google’s mobile operating system, Android.
Reported in the Wall Street Journal, the excerpt was low on details, but will increase the rivalry between the two companies which was started with the companies competing mobile offerings, the iPhone and Android phones.
Apple revealed their iPad earlier this year, essentially a scaled up version of the iPhone, running on the smartphone operating system. The iPad was very well received by the industry and consumers, with over a million units being sold in 28 days. It will not surprise the industry to hear that an Android-based tablet is in development, and that the big wireless carriers (besides the American Giant AT&T) would want to be a part of this.
A spokesman for Verizon has also confirmed the talks are in place, but declined to offer further details, suggesting that further information would be forthcoming later this week. The proposed new device would increase the rivalry between Apple and Google, which already compete in wireless software and mobile advertising.
