The Wall Street Journal has just put up a very short post indicating that Verizon is working with Google on a tablet computer. But this isn’t speculation or a flimsy report based on unnamed sources — Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam told the paper as much today.
This move is apparently a part of the carrier’s plan to match the deal rival AT&T has with Apple for the iPad. McAdam calls tablets the “next big wave of opportunities.“
Just as interesting is this part of the story: “He said the work on a tablet is part of a deepening relationship between the largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers and Google, which has carved out a space in mobile devices with its Android operating system.” Given the growing rumors that Verizon is gearing up to launch a CDMA version of the iPhone — perhaps as soon as later this year — this statement is very interesting, to say the least. Several weeks ago, multiple reports had Apple CEO Steve Jobs saying that Apple’s iPhone was at war with Google’s Android platform. Tensions between the two sides continue to rise.
You have to imagine that Apple can’t be too pleased with Verizon so publicly backing Google — though it’s not clear if the Verizon Google tablets would run Android or Google’s still-unreleased Chrome OS (Update below, it’s Android). Regardless, it will compete with the iPad.
Earlier this year, Google began posting mock-ups of what a tablet running Chrome OS might look like. The image seen above is one such mock-up. If Apple isn’t happy about Google competing with Apple in mobile phones, this is about to get a lot uglier.
The big question is: will it get ugly enough that Apple will re-up with AT&T and forget about a Verizon iPhone? Or maybe they have already, which is why McAdam would make such a pro-Google statement? The next few weeks leading up to Apple’s WWDC event in June should be interesting.
Verizon declined to say who would manufacturer such a tablet or when it would be released. But more details are apparently coming later this week. We can probably expect to hear more about this at Google I/O next week, as well.
Update: Bloomberg got more information in confirming the news with Verizon. Apparently it will be an Android-based tablet. Yes, Apple must be pissed.
Below is a Google-made demo of what a tablet running Chrome OS could look like. Again, the Verizon tablet will apparently be Android-based, but you can get some idea of what Google is thinking with tablet-based computing.
Verizon Communications Inc. delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s largest wireless network that serves nearly 102 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers converged communications, information and entertainment services over Verizon’s fiber-optic network.
Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and Google+, the company’s extension into the social space. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google’s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing...
Android is a software platform for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in Java that utilizes Google-developed software libraries, but does not support programs developed in native code. The unveiling of the Android platform on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 34 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards...
Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...
The Apple iPad, formerly referred to as the Apple Tablet, is a touch-pad tablet computer announced in January 2010, and released in April 2010. It has internet capabilities running on either WiFi or 3G, and offers an optional dock with a full size mechanical keyboard. The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. Its size and...
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