The tablet market has been absolutely dominated by Apple (News - Alert) over the last few years, with strong sales of the company’s iPad. However, another technology giant may be ready to launch its own answer to the device.

Images allegedly displaying a Google (News - Alert) tablet have circulated on the Web, with rumors swirling that it may be the long-speculated-on Galaxy Nexus tablet.

The icons being displayed on the screen are all for Google products, with no third-party applications being displayed. Several other tablet makers like Samsung, Motorola (News - Alert) and Viewsonic often have custom third-party apps on their devices.

In addition to the seemingly clean install of Google’s Android mobile operating system, the screen appears to have the type of on-screen keys used in the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android (News - Alert). This, along with the displayed time of 4:00AM are exactly the same as the device renderings of the Samsung Galuxy Nexus, says PocketNow.

There is no information as yet about the specifications, price or release date for this device, or, indeed, its manufacturer.

Though there is some evidence pointing towards the fact that it’s an image of Google’s long-rumored tablet, it may in fact be a rendered image of another manufacturer’s device. There are many similarities with a 7.7-inch prototype tablet Toshiba demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Association (News - Alert) trade show in January. With that in mind, this may be the in-production version of the Toshiba tablet.

Aside from Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s Kindle Fire has been somewhat successful since its launch in November. The online retailer is pitching its device as the most affordable on the market. Meanwhile, more than three million units of the latest iPad were sold within the first three days of the device’s availability.

If Google is making its own tablet, it will come as little surprise. The company has been moving more into the hardware space recently. For instance, it’s working on a home entertainment device which may debut at the I/O developer conference in June.