British telecom company BT is readying a device similar to the iPad, but executives were reticent to compare it to Apple’s tablet device. BT CEO Ian Livingston told The Guardian newspaper the unnamed device is seen as a touchscreen telephone for the home.
“Someone else made a reference to it being a bit like the iPad but it is not,” Livingston said. “It is a different size and shape apart from anything else, but it is meant to stay in the home,” he added.
The device, likened to a mini PC, does share features with the Apple product, including e-mail and text messaging, visual voice mail and the ability to download applications. The device’s dimensions fall somewhere between an iPod touch and the iPad, according to the newspaper.
BT said it developed the device’s software in-house but refused to say who will manufacture the hardware.
A Chinese iPad clone was uncovered in April. The clone, costing slightly less than the real thing, runs on the Windows operating system. Another iPad clone from China was introduced before the real Apple device began shipping.
[via Macworld]
