Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has revealed details of the new iPad.

The tablet computer, which was unveiled at a press conference at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco today (January 27), will be able to run iPhone applications, play HD video, download music via iTunes and allow users to browse the internet.

"[It's] the best browsing experience you've ever had," Jobs said, adding that the device can also be used to read ebooks, newspapers and magazines using the new iBooks application.

Set to occupy a "third category" between smartphones and laptops, the product boasts a 9.7 inch screen and 10-hour battery life, and will utilise the new iTunes LP artwork, which is set to bring more of a graphical element back to downloaded music.

Available in late March, the price of the iPad will start at $499 (£310).

As previously reported, Terry McGraw, head of publishing company McGraw-Hill, revealed that the iPad was going to be based on the operating system of the iPhone.

"The tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system, and so it will be transferable," McGraw told CNBC. "We have a consortium of ebooks – we have 95 per cent of all our materials that are in ebook format on that one – so with the tabloid you're going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tabloid, the tablet is going to be just really terrific."