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BT is set to launch a touchscreen tablet PC of a similar build to Apple’s headline-grabbing iPad.
Details on specification are thin on the ground, though in an interview with the Telegraph, BT’s chief executive Ian Livingston said it will be a cross between "a mini PC and the telephone of the future."
As well as phone calls, the device will also handle email, web browsing and text messages.
Despite the obvious parallels with the iPad and other such devices, it seems BT would rather not position itself as a direct rival.
"Some people have called it an ‘iPad killer’, but not us," Livingston said. "We see it as is a new device that would be in the kitchen or the lounge, so that you have all your communications in one place – your email, your voicemail, your text messages.
"You can even have little applications that will tell you the weather, or have a rolling stream of news. It’s for when you don’t want to have to turn on the computer to look something up. We’ve talked to a lot of customers about it – it’s not just something we’ve dreamed up. We’ve designed something around what the customers have said rather than around what technologists have said."
