For quite some time, the Web has been buzzing with speculation that Archos was going to launch a Mobile Internet Device that will run Android, and now an official release date has been set.

The long-rumoured Archos tablet will beat Apple's much hyped tablet (allegedly slated for an early 2010 release) to the punch with a mid-September release. According to photographs published on Pocketables, the device will be sleek and streamlined with rounded corners.

The as yet to be confirmed specs of the Archos seem impressive enough: Apart from running version 1.5 of Google's Android OS, it will apparently have a 5" (12.7 centimetres) WVGA touchscreen with HDMI output and 720p video playback, up to 500 GB of storage, 7 hours of battery life, a Cortex CPU, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, and natively embedded OpenGL libraries. Previously reported buzz included a rumour that the device will also have phone functionality, but since nothing has been confirmed yet, that still remains to be seen.

In the lead-up to its tablet's 15 September launch, Archos has also launched AppsLib, a new work-in-progress app store for "high end Android devices" such as Archos' own tablet. Eventually AppsLib hopes to be available on a range of Android devices from different manufacturers. These could include smartphones, netbooks, PNDs, PDAs and even picture frames. In the mean time, developers are invited to send in their new Android apps.

There is still no word on what the Archos tablet will cost. Hopefully the company will reveal more before the scheduled release date.

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