The iPed - as it is called - looks almost identical to Apple's touchscreendevice, which went on sale in Australia last week.

Produced in the Chinese province of Shenzhen, the iPed is priced at just $170.

That's less than a quarter of the $629 price of the entry-level iPad model in Australian stores.

The iPad knock-off runs Google's Android operating system, the popular choice for several mobile handset manufacturers including HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung.

For Apple, having its products copied is nothing new. It was the same in 2007 when the iPhone was introduced, with Chinese copies and cheap knock-offs appearing even before Apple's deviceofficially went on sale.

It's no wonder the clones are coming, with Apple this week announcing the iPad has sailed past the two million sales mark.

The iPed has a slightly smaller 17.8cm lower resolutionscreen compared with the iPad's 24.6cm high definitionscreen. It is also half the weight of the iPad at 332g.

A reviewer on the iTECH website put the iPed through its paces and said: "The iPed is exactly what you're thinking: a Chinese knock-off.

"The iPed is an Intel-driven, Android-based copycat packaged like an Apple product and, to be honest, it doesn't look half bad."

Apart from the cheap imitations there are a number of well-known companies lining up to produce their very own tablet touchscreen computers.

Google and HP are already preparing devices for the mass consumer market and Dell has also confirmed it will release an Android-powered iPad competitor called Streak this month.