Google coming out with a tablet

Yep, Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt got in front of a microphone and, as often happens, surprising stuff came tumbling out of his mouth. He told an Italian newspaper that Google would start marketing its own branded tablet computer in about six months. It’s an interesting strategy. The iPad is dominant among tablets, of course, while the Kindle Fire seems poised to dominate the emerging mini-tablet market. It’s doubtful Google, never known for hardware, could really make much of a dent. On the other hand, while Apple and Amazon get a lot of credit for what they make, Google doesn’t get all that much recognition for developing and running the Android platform. If Google can change the branding of Android to include Google, then suddenly a Google Android tablet becomes a sort of standard bearer. Of course, all this is dependent on the tablet being any good.