Although we’ve known for several months Google would like an Android tablet, Tuesday we learned more details: Motorola’s the manufacturer and Verizon appears to be the carrier. An Android-based tablet could appear later this fall, the Financial Times reports.
Motorola already makes the set-top boxes used for FiOS. The tablet is expected to be unveiled in the fall, about the same time as Android 3.0, codenamed “Gingerbread” is also thought to be released.
The close ties to Verizon’s FiOS television service is seen by Motorola as a leg-up against rivals. Samsung is expected to unveil is 7-inch Galaxy Tab later this year.
Physically, the device will reportedly feature a 10-inch screen, be lighter and thinner than the iPad and will allow users to share via Wi-Fi connections. Also, the Motorola tablet will support Adobe Flash, according to the FT.
In May Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha hinted at their plans for a tablet. “I think that a companion 7- to 10-inch device in the home will become very important, [both] as an augmentation to your TV experience [and] also as a way of walking around the house and streaming TV to that device.”
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
