Sony CEO Howard Stringer at CES in January

Sony might be joining the tablet craze as early as this summer, according to a new report.

According to Bloomberg, which cited a report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that his company will be launching a tablet by the end of the summer. The tablet, according to the report, will run Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Following that news, Engadget found a report from Japanese publication AV Watch, citing a Sony spokesperson who said the company will be releasing a tablet "this year." The representative said details on the device and the launch will be revealed at a later time.

This isn't the first time Sony has discussed tablets. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year, Sony Deputy President Kunimasa Suzuki said his company would "really like to take the No. 2 position (in the tablet market) by 2012" behind Apple's iPad. Sony's Stringer also pointed out that his company's plan is to deliver a full-fledged entertainment platform with its tablet.

"When our tablet comes out it'll have content of its own," Stringer said at CES in January. "We have television and film studios working very hard to create content specifically for it."

Those comments were followed in February by rumors that Sony was working on two tablets, one featuring a 9.4-inch display and the other shipping with two 5.5-inch screens. The rumors suggested Sony's larger tablet would run Honeycomb and ship by the end of 2011.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.