Following in the footsteps of BlackBerry, Motorola and of course Apple, Taiwanese mobile manufacturer HTC is to unveil its first tablet device, reportedly dubbed the Flyer, at Mobile World Congress next month, new reports suggest.

Previously believed to headed for a CES 2011 unveiling under the moniker of the HTC Scribe, following a patent filing from the Desire and Wildfire maker. However, the mooted HTC tablet is now claimed by "sources at handset component suppliers” to be being readied for launch under the Flyer branding.

Tipped as an enlarged version of the hugely successful HTC Desire, the Flyer is reported to take on a 7-inch form factor prior to hitting stores in the US this March. It is believed that the short turnaround between an MWC unveiling and March release is an attempt by HTC to beat the recently announced Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets to market and settle as the first true challenger to the Apple iPad’s lofty tablet market mantel.

Expected to launch with Google’s Android 2.3, Gingerbread, OS ahead of a 3.0, Honeycomb, upgrade, the HTC Flyer is pegged with a UK and European rollout in Q2. Full specifications and pricing on the HTC Flyer remain unknown.

The handset component sources responsible for the Flyer title also announced that HTC would be unveiling two further direct to Android 3.0 tablets at MWC ahead of June arrivals.

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Via: DigiTimes