Blackberry Mobility Featured Article

Heating up the competition with its fiercest wireless rival, Verizon Wireless confirmed that it is working on Android (News - Alert)-based Google tablet computer. 

Though reports say the top wireless carrier won't say when it will be released or who will manufacture it, Verizon and Google (News - Alert) are definite partners in the venture, marking the first major tablet foray for the Android platform, which was embedded in the majority of smartphones sold in the first quarter of 2010.

Verizon (News - Alert) CEO Lowell McAdam told the Wall Street Journal about its tablet plans May 11, confirming reports that surfaced a month earlier.

In early April, about one week after Apple (News - Alert) launched the much-hyped-about iPad, Google captured headlines in Wired, with news that it will soon be launching its own tablet device, TMCnet reported.

Google's device will be an "e-reader that will function like a computer," said the New York Times. The slate-like computer will run Android, unsurprisingly, and anonymous sources say Google is already at work with publishers to put books and magazines on the device,

Google was reportedly noncommittal about an Android tablet. When asked for more information about the device, the spokesperson told eWEEK May 11:

"The Android smartphone platform was designed from the beginning to scale downward to feature phones and upward to MID and netbook-style devices. We look forward to seeing what contributions are made and how an open platform spurs innovation, but we have nothing to announce at this time."