It's one less competitor for the lucrative tablet market as Hewlett-Packard revealed last week its intent to shift its core operation from hardware business to a premium information technology service provider yet current market leader Apple is not taking any chances.

Bent to preserve the dominance of its million-selling iPad computer tablet, the tech titan is planning to unleash a new version of the device by October this year, based on a report published by The Wall Street Journal over the weekend.

Citing an unnamed source knowledgeable of Apple's production procedure, the American publication revealed that manufacture of the new generation iPad has already reached a trial phase, with likelihood that the product will hit the market by the last quarter of 2011 or by January 2012 as the gadget's latest possible debut.

By this time, according to WSJ, contracts have been sealed that would see the delivery of major iPad parts to its Chinese manufacturer soon.

The new iPad will feature a much higher resolution at 2048 by 1536 from its present 1024 by 768 while the device's screen size will be at 9.7 inches, the Apple insider told WSJ.

"Suppliers will ramp up production and try to improve the yield rate for the new iPad in the fourth quarter before its official launch in early 2012," the WSJ report said, which added that as many as 1.5 million iPads will be assembled by the end of the year.

However, both Apple and its Taiwanese production partner, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., have yet to issue statements on the matter.

As of the latest third quarter report recently released by the Cupertino, California-based company, the mega-hit iPad has sustained its smashing sales performance by shipping out more than nine million units of the gadget during the three-month period ending on June 25.

The numbers, Apple noted, is a jump of some 300 percent from its achievements in the same period last year and vastly contributed to its net income of $7.31 billion so far, which effectively leaves behind the company's nearest competitor.

While HP already announced its departure from the tablet market (and the PC market in general), competition in the technology segment continues to heat up as rival gadgets were released by firms such as Motorola, Nokia and Samsung, though the latter is still engaged in legal tussles with Apple over patent infringement.

Motorola, on the other hand, is expected to make significant headways in the months ahead owing to its merger with Google while Nokia is raring to regain the market leadership following its alliance with Microsoft earlier this year, which should lead to the issuance of Windows-powered Nokia smartphones by early next year.