Since Apple stole the idea of a tablet from Microsoft it has been desperate to come up with something new to convince punters that it is an innovator after all. Having seen how useful the keyboard has been on Microsoft’s Surface, Apple’s crack team of geniuses are apparently set to copy the idea for the next iPad.

To do this it will order its tame press to insist that the idea of putting a keyboard on a tablet was all the idea of Steve Jobs and will tell its fanboys to attack anyone who says otherwise. According to Edinburgh blogger Jamie Ryan "a couple of people at Apple" have told him that "a few different styles" of the keyboard-equipped case-cover-thing have "been in testing for a while."

The idea that the keyboard cover will help the the 9.7-inch iPad differentiate itself from the 7.89-inch iPad mini. It will mean that the bigger tablet will be like the Surface Pro, only popular. Meanwhile Redmond is already going on to stage two of its Touch Cover and will be upgrading it to be more responsive.