Verizon developing tablet on Google’s Android platform

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Verizon Wireless says it’s working with Google on a new tablet computer to compete with Apple’s iPad, the early success of which has sent rival tech companies scrambling to catch the next big wave in mobile computing.

Dell and Toshiba have also said they’re working on tablets that would run on Google’s Android software. Hewlett-Packard, meanwhile, recently announced plans to buy Palm and use that smart-phone maker’s software in its own line of tablets and similar devices.

“Other vendors are not going to stand by and just cede that market to Apple,” said Michael Gartenberg, a tech industry analyst with the Altimeter Group. “We’re going to see more competition in this space.”

The move could also intensify the competition between Google and Apple, two former allies who have butted heads recently as Apple has expanded into the mobile advertising business, and Google has promoted its Android software for smart phones and portable computers.

It also shows that Verizon wants a share of the business that rival wireless provider AT&T has been enjoying with its exclusive arrangement to support Apple’s iPhone as well as the iPad.

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said he believes tablets are part of “the next big wave of opportunities” for his company. His comments were reported first by the Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by a Verizon spokeswoman.

Verizon now carries several smart phones that run on Google’s Android operating system. Verizon also provides wireless service for several models of “netbooks” – highly portable, downsized notebook computers made by other companies – but it has not yet come out with a tablet.

Apple says it sold 1 million iPads in the first month since the product was introduced. Before those results were announced, the IDC research firm had projected that 7.8 million iPads and similar devices will be sold this year and more than twice that number next year.