Research In Motion announced the release of a tablet PC that it hopes will compete against the Apple iPad due to its potential for media publishing, social networking and corporate purposes.

Called the BlackBerry PlayBook, the device features a seven-inch screen and dual facing cameras. The tablet also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities, however, the device needs to connect to a BlackBerry smart phone to gain access to the mobile network.

Following the announcement, shares in the company jumped to about 2 per cent to $US49.29. "It's ultra-mobile and it's ultra-thin... PlayBook delivers a no-compromises web experience," said Mike Lazaridis, the company's co-chief executive. The tablet can be connected to a BlackBerry smartphone, allowing users to view media and edit documents on a bigger screen.

The PlayBook, which weighs 400 grams, will come with a dual-core, one gigahertz processor that runs a QNX kernel and an operating system that is capable of incorporating Blackberry OS 6.

The tablet market has been getting more congested since the iPad was released in April, and Samsung and Dell announcing the release of competing devices. Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba are also expected to come out in the near future.

"RIM has a strong story to tell to developers to say - look, however you want to make things for this thing, we're giving you tools and a platform that will allow you to do that," said Charles Golvin, a principal analyst for Forrester Research.

"All the code that is out there, and there is a huge source base out there, [it] is completely portable to QNX," said Dan Dodge, who co-founded RIM. The device is expected to be shipped out to corporate customers and developers by October. The tablet will be available commercially in early 2011.