Research In Motion Ltd, maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, plans to introduce a tablet computer in November to compete with Apple Inc’s iPad, according to two people familiar with the company’s plans.
The device will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch diagonal screen, said the two people who declined to be identified because the plans have not yet been made public. The device will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology that will allow users to connect to the Internet through their BlackBerry smartphones, the two people said.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, last month said it sold 3 million iPad tablet computers in 80 days after they debuted in the US.
Marisa Conway, a spokeswoman for RIM, declined to comment, citing company policy not to comment on rumor or speculation.
RIM plans to call the tablet Blackpad, according to one of the people familiar with the plans. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, acquired the Internet rights to blackpad.com this month, according to the Whois database of domain names.
Pricing for the device will be in line with the iPad, which starts at US$499, the person said.
Hewlett-Packard Co, which bought smartphone maker Palm Inc, plans to produce a tablet device that runs on Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system, while Korea’s LG Electronics Inc plans to introduce a tablet computer in the fourth quarter that runs on Google Inc’s Android software.
On Thursday, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said that developing Windows-based tablet computers and getting them to market is “job one urgency” for the US software giant.
“We have got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates,” Ballmer told financial analysts at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, during a meeting that was streamed live on the Web.
“It is job one urgency around here, nobody’s sleeping at the switch,” he said of developing rival devices to Apple’s popular iPad.
“We’ve got to push right now, right now with our hardware partners,” he said. “Some of you have said: well ‘When? When?’ — as soon as they’re ready they’ll be shipping.”
Ballmer said Microsoft is working with its hardware partners, which include Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony, “not just to deliver something but to deliver products that people really want to go buy.”
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