Verizon, Google Developing iPad Rival
Verizon Wireless is working with Google Inc. on a tablet computer, the carrier's chief executive, Lowell McAdam, said Tuesday, as the company endeavors to catch up with iPad host AT&T Inc. in devices that connect to wireless networks.
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon and Google had explored a relationship as early as their 2007 talks, while Verizon had already positioned a device against the iPhone through an earlier iPhone-rival launch. The tablet effort extends that carrier-led challenge from handsets to a larger-screen device category where AT&T holds the iPad network relationship.
Google's planned digital bookstore gives the partnership a prospective content component alongside the device and wireless connection, although the article does not identify a manufacturer or launch timetable.
First-order effects
- Verizon gains a Google-backed route to contest AT&T's iPad advantage with a tablet designed around Verizon Wireless connectivity.
- Google gains a carrier partner for a tablet effort, broadening its device ambitions beyond the phone competition Verizon had already entered.
Second-order effects
- AT&T faces a more direct challenge for wireless-tablet customers if Verizon can pair a credible device with its network, rather than competing only through handset alternatives.
- Tablet makers and content providers gain another potential distribution channel, with Verizon's network relationship and Google's planned bookstore potentially bundled around the same category.
Third-order effects
- The effort points toward wireless carriers competing for leverage in tablets through software alliances and exclusive device relationships, not network access alone.
- If carrier-backed tablet projects proliferate, platform providers such as Google can use distribution partnerships to challenge the early advantage held by the iPad's incumbent carrier arrangement.
The trend: Tablets are becoming another front in the carrier-platform contest, as Verizon and Google seek to counter AT&T's iPad connection through a combined device and software strategy.