Google Inc plans to unveil a $199 tablet co-branded with Tawian's Asustek Computer Inc at its developer conference this week, taking direct aim at Apple Inc's iPad, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Rumors that the search engine giant planned to launch a tablet at its annual developer conference have been doing the rounds in tech blog posts for weeks.

The 7-inch tablet, running Android mobile software, will showcase new features of Android, according to one person, who said the latest version of the software is named Jellybean, Bloomberg reported.

Google officials could not be reached for comment outside of regular business hours.

(Reporting by Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Richard Pullin)

(Source : Reuters)