According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon and Google are working on a rival to the iPad.

This is interesting for a couple of reasons:

Even though the iPad is far from the only tablet on the market, Apple’s marketing prowess puts it so far ahead of the competition that many people believe the iPad is the only tablet there is. That’s marketing power!

Android smart phones recently surpassed the iPhone for second place in U.S. market share, according to the NPD group (RIM is in first place, by a wide margin).  This is because many manufacturers make Android devices, but only Apple makes the iPhone. Every major wireless carrier in the US now carries an Android device. A similar dynamic will be true for Android tablets.

Combine Google’s considerable consumer marketing talent with the muscle of multiple manufacturers and carriers, and it’s not a stretch to say that Android tablets’ market share will surpass iPads’ in short order.