BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is planning to introduce a rival to the iPad, Bloomberg reports.
Citing two people familiar with the plans, Bloomberg says that tablet, unofficially dubbed the Blackpad, will be roughly the same size as the iPad. Like the Apple device it will have Wi-Fi but there won’t be a 3G option. Instead RIM will let users tether the tablet via Bluetooth to a BlackBerry phone in order to access the Internet, something Apple doesn’t allow with an iPad and iPhone.
RIM declined to comment on “rumour or speculation”.
If true, “Blackpad” will be on of a series of “iPad killers” top emerge over the coming months. Several firms are working on tablets based on Google’s Android software and HP is planning consumer-oriented devices running its recently acquired Palm WebOS; Microsoft, meanwhile, is pinning its hopes on a touch-tweaked version of Windows, though it is beginning to look as if that will not be ready until next year.
