(Image Source: Inquisitr)

BY JJ BAILEY

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

Eric Schmidt lit up the tech world with an announcement last week. Speaking to an Italian newspaper, the Google CEO hinted the Google Nexus tablet could occupy shelves within six months.

While the idea of a google tablet isn’t surprising, it’s the first time there’s been a timetable on the project. Now, in the holiday aftermath, speculation has begun on what this announcement could mean for the tablet arena.

Fox News isn’t hiding its prediction, calling the proposed tablet the ‘iPad Killer.’

“Soon Google could show tablet makers like ASUS, HTC, Lenovo, and Motorola how a real Android tablet is made. … Google typically helms the designs of those devices, and the final products are usually treated as the ideal pairing of hardware with Android software.”

But Digitimes takes a different look, saying the idea may be great for Google, but what about the rest of the food chain? With this many people using their Android OS, launching their own tablet will cannibalize other Android providers.

“A major concern of the local PC industry is that the Google Nexus is likely to run on Android 4.1, while those Ice Cream Sandwich models to be rolled out in the first half of 2012 are to be powered by Android 4.0 - a development which is likely to cause deferred effects in the purchase of Android tablet PCs by consumers, the sources argued.”

And Inquisitr says there was more in Schmidt’s comments than just tablet talk. What he said about the Kindle Fire seem to hint that the search engine giant is ready to take on all comers.

“He also expects that the Google Nexus will directly challenge the Apple iPad and the Amazon Fire, which hints that Google is planning to compete in the e-book sphere as well as just the tablet market. Google has reportedly been speaking to content providers such as book distributors and publishing houses as well as magazine distributors about content for the Google Nexus Tablet.”

But TheNextWeb has a cautionary word. According to the site, the interview was translated from Italian into English, and a few key details may have gotten blurry.

“It is distinctly possible that Schmidt has declared Google’s desire to formally enter the tablet market with a Nexus-grade tablet device but given the rough translation, he could simply mean that the company will partner with an OEM. This would mean that the search giant would promote devices created with a company like Motorola (with its XOOM tablet) and Samsung (with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 device), helping to push tablets powered by its new Ice Cream Sandwich software.”

And, just a fun fact for you -- that translation was done by none other than -- Google’s translation service.