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Canadian technology company Research in Motion (RIM) is expected to unveil a new tablet device early next week at a developers conference. The device, which unnamed sources claim is called the BlackPad, will be launched by the end of this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. If the device is released, it will compete with Apple's iPad and also with Samsung's GalaxyTab which runs on the Android operating system. RIM is best known for their line of BlackBerry smartphones.
According to InformationWeek, the BlackPad will run a new operating system developed by QNX, which RIM bought earlier in 2010. Future BlackBerry smartphones might also use this new operating system. If RIM uses the QNX operating system, the company's new Blackberry 6 operating system will be retired early. The device is also expected to have a camera and a seven inch touch screen.
RIM has been steadily losing market share to Apple and Google's Android. RIM is expected to capture 11.7% of the smartphone market in 2014, a plunge from the 17.5% it currently holds, according to Gartner. Some people are optimistic about RIM's probable venture into tablet devices, such as Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies, who said that "if you're a smartphone vendor today the natural way to continue to growing  your business would be to introduce a tablet." However, Sameet Kanade, analyst with Northern Securities, has more doubts, stating that the tablet market is "a market that RIM has no exposure or experience in." 
Other companies have announced their intention to launch rivals to the iPad. Motorola has said that they will launch a rival to the iPad in early 2011, while Samsung and Dell have already released similar devices. Microsoft has also announced that they will develop software to rival Apple's tablet device.

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Research in Motion to launch new tablet device