It was the English writer Charles Caleb Colton who said that imitation is the highest form of flattery - but Apple's lawyers might have a different term for it after they see Nokia's new N1 tablet.
While Nokia has sold off its Lumia phone business to Microsoft, the once-grand Finnish tech company has proved its far from defunct with the reveal of a new tablet design. Or rather, familiar tablet design. With a 7.9-inch touch screen and sleek rear crafted from a single piece of aluminium, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you were looking at Apple's iPad Mini.
Upon discovering that the volume buttons, camera and speakers were in almost identical positions to Apple's micro offering, even those who know it's a Nokia device would probably begin to doubt themselves - getting equally confused when they log on to the N1 website to discover a remarkably Apple-ish page.
There are important differences though: the N1 is thinner (at 6.9mm) and lighter (318g) than an iPad Mini 3, with a 64-bit processor made by Intel and Android operating system. It's a very different tablet to the Nokia/Microsoft Lumia 2520 - this is Wi-Fi only, with a reversible Micro USB connector the only port to the outside world. It's also - confusingly - not made by Nokia; they've licensed their brand name and partnered with Foxconn to build the N1 (which many tech types are viewing as an open snub to Microsoft).
Set to launch in China in February 2015 for around £160, the N1 will also be a great deal cheaper than the iPad Mini 3. For those of you who love Android, this could be a new favourite gadget.
Your move, Apple.
