LAS VEGAS (Kyodo) Sony Corp. is aiming high with its tablet computer under development, eyeing the second-largest share of the global market after Apple Inc.'s iPad by 2012, a company executive said Thursday.

"Although it's certain that the iPad is the king, the point is who will take second spot?" Kunimasa Suzuki, a Sony executive, told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Sony has been working on the specifications of its tablet, including options such as adopting Google Inc.'s Android operating system and enabling the device to link with smart phones. A release date for the tablet has yet to be set. Suzuki said it is easier to have smart phones serve as a basis for its planned tablet.

"We need to have an integrated product strategy with Sony Ericsson," he said, referring to the group's mobile phone maker, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB.