Apple isn't the only electronics manufacturer reported to be working on a range of touchscreen media pads (something of a next generation cross between net books and tablets), and TechCrunch has more details on what could be expected.

Primarily it seems Apple is working on locking down a screen size for the device, with rumours currently ranging between seven and ten inches. This could be because Apple hasn't yet decided, or it could indicate that a range of media pads is actually in consideration.

Developers have also noted that the new iPhone 3.0 software appears to cater for larger screen sizes, suggesting the Apple media pad will be closely related to the iPhone, and therefore enjoy the same connectivity, access to the App Store and run the same games and applications.

Apparently, staff have been migrated from the iPhone and onto this project internally within Apple, so it seems quite certain now that Apple is indeed working on this new device that would take the industry by storm, if true.