Google Slate? Google Tablet Mockup Fuels Speculation

Apple hasn't even had time to bask in the afterglow of its iPad announcement when the Interweb got all aflutter thanks to one major party pooper.

A tablet mockup from none other than Google is now fueling a wave of speculation online on whether the tech giant has designs on releasing an iPad competitor of its own.

The Google tablet concept showed up on Google's Chromium Web site, where it was used to show potential uses of the Chrome operating system. Among the features discussed were variations on the multi-touch keyboard, using a launcher to create multiple browsers, and a zooming user interface for multiple tabs (cough, multi-tasking, cough?).

The development is an interesting one as Google certainly has the cache to stand up to a titan such as Apple. And if comments from anonymous sources in this Wired article about Steve Jobs going off on Google is true (apparently, he criticized Google for getting in the smartphone arena even though Apple decided not to get into the search arena), then a Google Pad will likely have Apple's head honcho going nuclear.

Meanwhile, TheStreet.com posted comments from a Google spokesperson who basically says the company is commitedly non-committal to a Google Pad, Slate or whatever.

The plot thickens...

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