Is Google Prepping a Handheld Computer?

On the heels of Apple's handheld computer, the iPad, Google unveils sketches of its own Chrome tablet PC. But how real is it?

Less than a week after Apple unveiled its long-anticipated tablet, its growing nemesis Google has decided to stir things up by posting photos of a mock-up tablet running its own Chrome OS.

With some of the complaints about the iPad around its lack of flexibility and multitasking capabilities, there might still be a space to grab the tablet market from Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) hands. And as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) finds itself on an apparent collision course with Apple through its Nexus One phone, Android OS and Chrome, a tablet seems the next likely battlefield.

But the mock-ups are just that. There is no product formally in the works from Google. There are a number of form factor mock-ups on the Chrome developers' forum, including netbooks, notebooks, and desktops.

Given the open-source nature of Chrome OS, it would be possible for any device maker to take the operating system and adapt it for their hardware, just as several have done with Chrome OS-powered netbooks.

Read the full story at Hardware Central:
Google Mulling Tablet in Apple's Wake