Motorola (NYSE:MOT) is developing a tablet that will run on Google's Android platform and will link to Verizon's (NYSE:VZ) FiOS TV service, according to a report in the Financial Times, which cited unnamed sources.
The report said the device will have a 10-inch screen and could be released as soon as this fall, a description and timeline that matches a recent Motorola tablet rumor from Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar. The device is reportedly going to allow users to watch Verizon's FiOS service; Motorola also makes FiOS set-top boxes.
Additionally, the report said the device will let users share a wireless data connection with other nearby devices, support Adobe's Flash protocol and have a camera for taking still photos and another for video conferencing. The device is said to be lighter and thinner than Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad.
Apple said it sold a whopping 3.27 million iPads during its most recent quarter, numbers that have sparked a landslide of entrants into the nascent tablet space.
Representatives from Motorola and Verizon declined to comment.
The report is the latest in a string of developments for the forthcoming Motorola Mobility. Motorola recently filed a trademark application for something called "Family Room" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that strongly hints at media sharing products. In May, Jha said at an investor conference that Motorola is thinking about a "companion product" to a TV that would sport a 7-10 inch screen and that would allow users to walk around their house and watch TV. And in January, Motorola showed off a prototype Android tablet as part of a demonstration of Verizon Wireless' forthcoming LTE network.
Motorola Mobility is the company to be formed by the combination of Motorola's handset and set-top box units and led by Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha when it spins off early next year. On Monday, Motorola announced that Dan Moloney, a 10-year company veteran who left the company's set-top box division in February, will return as the president of Motorola Mobility beginning Sept. 1.
For more:
- see this FT article
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