With the apparent deepening of the relationship between Verizon Wireless and Google, the carrier’s CEO Lowell McAdam revealed on Tuesday that the two companies are working together on a new tablet computer to compete with the last-month-released Apple iPad.

McAdam’s mention of the tablet came during his interview with The Wall Street Journal, while talking about the discussions the two companies have about bringing new smartphones to market. Last year, Verizon – the biggest US carrier by subscribers - had fervently promoted the Google Android-based Motorola Droid.

With the Apple iPad showing early signs of being the next big wave in mobile computing arena, McAdam said during the course of the interview: “What do we think the next big wave of opportunities are? We're working on tablets together, for example. We're looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience.”

However, McAdam stopped short of either disclosing the details about the timing and the manufacturer of a Verizon-Google tablet or about Google’s role in the supposed tablet.

Nonetheless, he acknowledged that devices like tablet computers, netbooks and e-readers are fast emerging a new part of the operations of carriers - an area in which, according to McAdam, Verizon has fallen behind rival AT&T, which is the carrier for both Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad.