Sony unveiled its first tablet computers in an ambitious attempt to grab second place in the market created and still dominated by Apple's iPad.

The new gadgets, which will be available in Ireland from late autumn, will use an operating system based on Android 3.0, Kunimasa Suzuki, deputy president of the consumer products and services group, told reporters in Tokyo.

One of the models will have two screens, he added.

Mr Suzuki raised eyebrows in January when he told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Sony was aiming for the number two spot in the tablet market behind Apple within a year, even though it had yet to put a product on the market.

The company has emphasised the need to differentiate its tablet from rivals, even if that takes time.

Sales of tablet devices are expected to quadruple to about 294 million units between 2011 and 2015, with almost half that made up by Android-based, according to research firm Gartner.

In a bid to tap that burgeoning demand, competitors including Samsung Electronics - whose Galaxy Tab has emerged as Apple's strongest competitor in the tablet market - and Motorola , LG Electronics and HTC are flooding the market with tablets running Google's Android software.

Reuters