According to a Bloomberg report, citing two unidentified sources aware of the proceedings at Google, the company's I/O conference in San Francisco this week would likely witness the launch of a $199-priced tablet, which will be co-branded with Asus and will underscore Google's intentions to take a "direct aim" at the Apple iPad.

The Bloomberg report somewhat substantiates the earlier reports of Google's 7-inch Nexus tablet which the company was believed to be developing in association with Asus. In fact, in a last-week report, the Wall Street Journal had said that Google will probably launch a tablet device in "coming weeks."

As per the latest Bloomberg report, one of the sources has even revealed that the Google tablet will run the next version - code-named Jellybean - of the Android operating system; as well as a service that will facilitate the companies in renting computer servers for storing data.

If the reports about the much-rumored Google tablet turn out to be accurate, the launch of the device will represent the realization of Chairman Eric Schmidt's December 2011 promise that the company is working for the launch of "the highest quality" tablet within a period of six months.

Highlighting Google's imminent fray into the tablet arena in April too, Google had mentioned during an earnings conference call that it was "quite focused" on the low-cost end of the tablet market.