Motorola Inc demonstrated a prototype media tablet that could be ready commercially by the fourth quarter, though the timing partly depends on an advanced mobile network being built by Verizon Wireless.

A slew of tech companies are showing off new slate or tablet PCs at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, seeking to steal the limelight from a widely expected tablet from Apple Inc in late January.

Motorola's prototype has a 7-inch screen, runs on Google Inc's Android operating system, and has room for 32 gigabytes of external memory.

I can anticipate it being a $300 device but we have to go through the pricing process, said Don Schoch, Motorola's director of program management.

The company showed how a user could show movie trailers on the tablet, and said it could also download and store video to watch later.

Timing would depend on the successful deployment of Verizon Wireless' LTE high-speed wireless network, which is expected to be available in 25 to 30 markets this year. Verizon Wireless is a unit of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.

Dell Inc also said on Thursday it could bring a small slate computer to market this year.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew, editing by Tiffany Wu and Derek Caney)

Electronics Motorola