Google taking aim at Apple iPad with new tablet

Google is developing a new tablet which may rival Apple's iPad, according to reports.

Chief Executive Eric Schmidt had been describing the device as a reader tablet which would also perform computing functions, according to The New York Times.

Such a device could be based on Google's Android operating system and Marketplace service and could possibly use the Google Book service to deliver eBook titles to the device.

If it is indeed in development, the tablet device would provide Google with yet another hardware device in direct competition with Apple. Once considered to be working closely on multiple levels, Apple and Google have increasingly found themselves going head to head in the market.

The companies are already going head to head with the iPhone and Nexus One handsets, and to a lesser extent the firms are facing off in the browser market with Chrome from Google and Safari from Apple. Schmidt resigned from Apple's board of directors in August of 2009 amidst the increased competition between the two firms.

Reports of Google's tablet come as Apple has reeled off strong sales of the iPad. After shipping the first versions of the iPhone in the US early this month, the company has reported hundreds of thousands of units sold in its first days.