Nokia is planning to unveil a 10in tablet based on Windows RT at the end of February 2013,according to reports circulating in the Far East.

While rumours of a tablet from Nokia have been rife for more than two years,the reports suggest that the Finnish mobile phone maker is lining up contract manufacturer Compal to help develop the new device,which will also feature chipsets from Qualcomm.

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According to a report in Taiwan's Digitimes,Nokia had been planning to release a tablet computer in the first quarter of 2012,with an initial production run of 2000 units to test the market.However,the company put its plans on ice after Microsoft revealed that it was planning its own device,the Microsoft Surface,which it released in October.

However,as both reviews and sales of the Surface have been mixed,Microsoft is keen to persuade partners to release Windows RT-based devices.

It won't be the first tablet computer from Nokia:the company launched the N770 in 2005.The tablet,which ran on Linux derivative Maemo,cost£245 and was intended for wireless internet browsing and email,and included applications for internet radio,an RSS news reader,an ebook reader,an image viewer and media players.

Its successor,the N800 was released in January 2007.