Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt may have inadvertently announced company plans to release a new tablet in the span of six months.

According to The Next Web (TNW), Schmidt said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera the possibility of Google releasing a Nexus tablet in half a year’s time.

TNW quoted Schmidt in saying that Google “plans to market a tablet of the highest quality,” but the tech site immediately commented that the interview was in Italian so the Google Translate English version may not be in proper context.

The TNW continued by suggesting Schmidt may have meant that Google is in the works on a “Nexus-grade” slate or merely including its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich mobile operating system to an OEM device from Motorola or Samsung.

According to PC World, TechCrunch writer Chris Velazco called into question whether the alleged Google tablet would really carry the tag of the Nexus range of devices.

Velazco goes on to point that Google’s most advanced devices always come from the Nexus line, but the search giant may also have plans to produce a new tablet with an iPad-like mass appeal for better competition.

Samsung evidently does well from the successful launch of its Galaxy S II smartphone, including the hype built around the recent release of the world’s first Android 4.0 ICS handset, the Galaxy Nexus.

YouGov BrandIndex has just published the latest figures that indicated consumer reception and Samsung topped Apple in the study.

According to the report, “The iPhone’s buzz score began sinking around November 28, with a buzz score of 33 – the current score (reported on December 14) is 25. Samsung, whose buzz score was 19 compared to the iPhone’s 29 on October 3rd, is now at 26.”

AllThingsD cited a study in November that pinned the Apple iPad at a dominant position in the tablet market with nearly 75 percentage points, but said that the large difference from rivals could partly be due to the lack of a real challenger.

Google now confronts more solid competitors after Amazon released its own Kindle Fire tablet in a market that continues to grow exponentially.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. Image: Jolie O'Dell via Flickr (CC)

Schmidt added on his interview with Corriere della Sera that Google is figuring out ways to enhance its voice-recognition technology to better rival Apple’s voice-control software Siri, a popular and distinctive feature that comes with the new iPhone 4S.

Last week, the Mountain View-based company is reportedly working on a new project called Majel, a mystery voice-assistant project named after the Federation Computer from Star Trek.

Majel will use Google Voice Actions on top of natural language processing (NLP) and could be set for a year-end release, noting, “a January or February release might be more realistic.”

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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