Apple CEO unveils new tablet computer, the iPad

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled a new touchscreen tablet computer on Wednesday dubbed the "iPad," calling it a "revolutionary" product between a laptop and a smartphone.

"We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product," Jobs said at an Apple event here.

"All of us use laptops and smartphones now," he said.

"The question has arisen lately - is there room for a third category of device in the middle, something between the laptop and the smartphone," the Apple CEO said before revealing the new notebook-sized computer.

Jobs said the device, with its nearly 10-inch (25.4-cm) color screen, is "so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smartphone."

Dressed in his trademark blue jeans and black turtleneck, Jobs demonstrated some of the features of the iPad, which he said include browsing the Internet, playing games, listening to music and watching high-definition video.

"We've got movies, videos, TV shows," Jobs said.

Jobs also showed off the virtual keyboard on the machine and said the iTunes music store is built into the iPad.

The iPad is half an inch thick (1.3-cm) and weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kilograms), he said, and will come with 16- 32- or 64-gigabytes of flash memory.

"We have been able to achieve 10 hours of battery life," he said. "I can take a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole way on one charge."