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Verizon, Google Creating Tablet That May Use Android

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam has confirmed that Verizon is working with Google on a tablet computer that is expected to be powered by Android. A Google Android-powered tablet from Verizon would indicate that carriers are moving beyond smartphones. And a tablet based on Android would not need an Intel chip or Microsoft software.

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 that Apple uses in its iPad.

Consumption, Not Creation

An Android-based tablet available through Verizon would be another indication that carriers see their business as moving beyond phones, but being built on that base. The iPad is essentially a large iPod touch, and both use the iPhone operating system. Tablets based on Android could be expected to similarly offer the advantages of that base, such as using the same applications as Android-based smartphones. One of the iPad's big strengths at launch was that it runs the many iPod touch apps in Apple's App Store, and Google has similarly been building a marketplace for Google apps.

This building-on-smartphones strategy may also play into the planning for the other major tablet currently on the horizon. Hewlett-Packard has reportedly stopped development on its Windows 7-based Slate tablet, in favor of recasting that product around the webOS platform from Palm, which it recently acquired.

Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, said building tablets on smartphone platforms means these devices are "lightweight in physical appearance and in computer power."

They are primarily being used "for content consumption, not content creation," he said. Rubin said this orientation means there is "no need for an Intel-compatible processor to run Windows" and Microsoft  Office. It's up to Microsoft and Intel, he said, to make the case that tablets need that capability.