Reports suggest that Google and HTC will launch their attempt to take on Apple’s iPad in November, with a tablet running Google’s new Chrome operating system.
The rumours stem from a report on the well-regarded technology blog Download Squad , who were told by a source that Google and HTC would be launching the tablet on November 26 in the US – the notorious ‘Black Friday’ following Thanksgiving, traditionally one of the busiest shopping days in the year for Americans.
According to Download Squad’s source, the tablet would be available on the Verizon network in the US – the same network that Google recently collaborated with on their highly controversial ‘net neutrality’ proposals. It seems likely that the tie-in with a mobile network would mean that the Chrome tablet would be offered at a subsidised price – potentially making it significantly cheaper (in the short term) than Apple’s iPad, which was sold without any carrier subsidy.
The Google Chrome OS – scheduled for launch this autumn – is a seperate project from Google’s increasingly popular Android smartphone operating system, designed instead for netbook computers and tablets to take advantage of web apps that run in the browser, rather than needing seperate apps.
Several manufacturers have already launched or announced iPad-rival tablets running Android – including the Dell Streak and Huawei S7, with Samsung, Toshiba and Acer all preparing products for launch – but there’s been less talk about tablets running Chrome OS. With speculation already growing about an Apple iPad 2 launching next year, the window is shrinking forserious iPad rivals to enter the market before Apple’s next round of product launches.
HTC has a long relationship with Google thanks to their work on many of the leading Android smartphones, including manufacturing Google’s own Nexus One.
It’s not clear if the November launch date would apply internationally. Google has previously run into delays when trying to make products available with non-US mobile networks – while the Nexus One was available in the UK through Google’s now-defunct web storeat the same time as the US got it, it took several more months before it arrived in the UK with a network subsidy on Vodafone.
