Google may be planning high-end tablet to combat the iPad

It seems that Google will directly challenge Apple's tablet supremacy, a ploy that has failed a litany of other worthy hardware makers.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt allegedly told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the company plans to "market a tablet of the highest quality" in the next six months. Now it certainly isn't clear if Schmidt was misquoted or simply meant that a high-end Android tablet, made by a number of companies, will be slick enough to compete toe-to-toe against the Apple iPad 2 juggernaut.

Another intriguing possibility is that Google has had its eye on constructing an uber-slate for some time now. Perhaps such a device will be the fruit of its acquisition of Motorola Mobility earlier this year. Heck, it might be the harbinger of a Nexus Tablet---now that's a scintillating thought.

A Nexus tab makes more sense to me than the actual Nexus line of smartphones since U.S. carriers won't be able to muck things up. Also, no matter what anyone says, tablets are Wi-Fi-centric devices and buying data plans for them is an extravagant waste of money. Whatever secret tablet plans Google has up its sleeve, sign me up because I want in.