Research in Motion (RIM) is set to unveil its version of a Blackberry tablet computer to take on the iPad next week, according to a newspaper report.
The BlackPad, as it has been nicknamed, will be launched before the end of the year and will have a seven-inch touch screen and at least one built-in camera, a source told the Wall Street Journal.
And it is claimed that RIM will unveil the device at a developers’ conference in San Francisco next week.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the BlackPad will have Bluetooth and broadband connections but will only be able to connect to mobile phone networks through a BlackBerry smartphone.
It will also use an entirely new operating system to the BlackBerry phones and has had a platform built by QNX Software Systems, a technology company that RIM bought earlier this year.
This means that the BlackPad, when it is finally unveiled, will also be taking on Google and Apple in the tablet market as well as the smartphone market.
RIM said it does not comment on rumours or speculation.
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