Blackberry set to rival Apple's iPad

Since the arrival of the hotly anticipated iPad, Apple have once again claimed run of the industry; this time in the market for tablet computers.

This could all be about to change however, as word of a Blackberry 'BlackPad' begins to surface.

Despite Apple having sold 3.27 million of their tablet style devices in the past few months alone, there's clearly market share left to be gained with Blackberry rumoured to be working on a prototype computer with similar functionality to the iPad.

Research In Motion – the manufacturers behind Blackberry – are thought to be keen to gain a stronger foothold in the world of new technologies since the arrival of the new iPhone 4, Android and HTC models.

The Guardian reported a dip of just under 1% in global Blackberry shipments while Apple saw their smartphone market share bounce from 10.9% to 16.1%.

Nicknamed the 'BlackPad' by industry bloggers and gadget fans, it is thought the device will try and snatch some away some of Apple's share by allowing users to connect to the internet via wireless mobile broadband whereas iPad users must pay separately for 3G internet access.