The technology blog, BGR, reports that the first BlackBerry tablet is all set to be launched on April 10th 2011. The tablet, called BlackBerry PlayBook will be sold at retail locations for $499. Recent speculation about the features BlackBerry PlayBook will include, has increased its anticipation and the most recent announcement about it being able to run Android apps in addition to the BlackBerry apps has also surprised users.

However, a new war front started brewing today due to significant similarities between PlayBook’s OS and the WebOS that Palm introduced back in 2009. HP’s director of product marketing for their TouchBook commented that “there are some uncanny similarities” between the two OSs. Research In Motion, the makers of BlackBerry, have also issued a response to HP’s comment, explaining that “we set out from the ground up to define a user experience that we felt would delight our customers, and we landed in a place that may look like other competitive devices”.

RIM has recently been heavily criticized for not being innovative enough with its products and if the new PlayBook follows the same course, it may very well be the last nail in RIM’s coffin. The company, which at one time created world’s most popular smart phones, is struggling quite a bit to compete with iPhone and Android phones that give users more power and features. Moreover, with every technology company trying their hands on creating a tablet, the competition in this newly created niche is already fierce with no room for mistakes.