Google’s Schmidt Promises Severe iPad Rival

A battle in between Google and Apple over the mobile communications industry will get brutal next year as the search and operating-system giant launches its own branded device to take on the iPad.

That's what Google CEO Eric Schmidt promises, telling an Italian newspaper that &quotin the next six months we program to marketplace a tablet of the highest quality.&quot The comments in Corriere della Serra are widely believed to signal that a tablet based on the pure-Google Nexus phone model is in the works.

'Leading Edge of Google Technology'

There are already dozens of tablets produced by other manufacturers that run Google's Android operating method, including Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Motorola's Xoom. Given the increasingly cozy relationship between the Mountain View, Calif.-based business and South Korean electronics giant Samsung, it might be a safe bet that's who is developing it.

Samsung just released the Galaxy Nexus, the 1st to run Android four. (Ice Cream Sandwich), and its devices are to be the initial to get Android updates.

So how would a Nexus tablet be distinct from a Tab or a Xoom? And how would it stack up against the market king iPad two?

&quotThe Nexus line defines the leading edge of Google's technology,&quot mentioned Rob Enderle, principal technologies analyst at Enderle Group. &quotThis is the fast track to market, but the iPad is defined by user experience, not by technology leadership. &quot

Enderle stated Schmidt's boast reminded him of similar posturing by Palm prior to the unsuccessful 2010 launch of its Palm Pre phones.

&quotGoogle is the master of rapidly, but to compete effectively with Apple you have to be the master of user knowledge and both define and deliver a excellent 1,&quot Enderle stated. &quotGoogle has struggled with that, and simply bringing out a poor, inexpensive copy of the iPad won't prove to be that profitable.&quot

Praise for Steve Jobs

Amazon's success with the Kindle Fire tablet shows an opening for non-iPad tablets, Enderle stated, &quotbut the reality that Amazon had to fork Android to do that suggests that Google has to behave differently if they want to be productive here.&quot

In the interview with Milan-based Corriere della Serra, Schmidt also praised his former rival, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, as a friend and &quotthe Michelangelo of our time&quot who &quotrealized the revolutionary potential of the tablet and has developed an remarkable item like the iPad.&quot

Schmidt's comments come as the rumor mill has been shifting to focus on the third-generation iPad, with present speculation that it would have a smaller screen than the current 9.7-inches, which would make it more portable.

Enderle said it was likely no coincidence that Schmidt's comments, from an interview in New York at Google's new headquarters there, were given to a European publication.

&quotApple's weaker in Europe and Google's platform, conversely, is a lot more well-known,&quot he stated. &quotIt will play far better there, so I believe this was most likely planned.&quot

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