Although Apple is currently the most visible company in the tablet category, that may soon change. On Tuesday, the CEO of Verizon Wireless said his company is working with Google on a tablet computer.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, the carrier’s Lowell McAdam said the companies are “looking at all the things” Google has that could be put “on a tablet to make it a great experience.” Although McAdam didn’t specify, the expectation is that the tablet will be based on Google’s open-source Android operating system.
‘Bucket of Megabytes’
McAdam also indicated that carrier pricing may essentially treat various devices under one price plan. He told the Journal that “the old model of one price plan per device is going to fall away” in favor of plans that feature a “bucket of megabytes.”
Verizon and Google are already working together on such products as the Droid, a Motorola-made smartphone that runs Android and Google software. This alliance is also a symmetrical balance to the AT&T Wireless-Apple partnership. AT&T is the carrier for the iPhone and the iPad, as well as for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader.
This isn’t the first report that Google is working on an Android tablet, but it’s the first confirmation from one of the participants. Google, however, has said it has no announcement at this time.
In April, Google bought Bump Technologies, which makes a 3-D multi-touch desktop for Windows and Mac computers, and some industry observers took that acquisition to be a sign the company was interested in scaling up Android for tablets.
Another Google purchase last month, of a company called Agnilux, has also been seen as pointing to tablet development. Although details of the acquisition and the acquired company are murky, it’s known that Agnilux was founded by engineers who were involved with the design of the A4, the chip…