Neofonie, the German company manufacturing the Android tablet formerly known as WePad, has abruptly changed the device’s name to “WeTab”.

Despite rumors that Apple is the reason of this change, the company does not imply that they are behind this.

The official statement says:

“To clearly differentiate our products within the international market for tablet computers, as of today we have changed the product name of our tablet computer from WePad to WeTab. Similarly, the company formerly known as WePad GmbH will now trade under WeTab GmbH. This change only concerns the name of the product and company. All other particulars and pre-orders are not affected.”

So far, Apple seems not own the trademark for ‘pad’, but chief executive Steve Jobs has in the past already claimed that it is.

The german iPad – Neofonie’s WePad can now be preordered at amazon.de So to all you non believers (including me) – it seems to be real.

The Android tablet WePad (wordplay on I Pad?) has a large 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, GMA 3150 graphics, webcam, two USB ports, flash card reader, UMTS modem, and six hours of battery life. The manufacturer, Neofonie, also has designs on a WePad app store and Google Android and the Android Market. There is also the so called “WeMagazine publishing ecosystem” with names like Berthelsmann and Gruner+Jahr standing behind it.

One big advantage besides USB, SD card slot, open system, webcam and so on over the iPad might be the innovative thumb navigation which lets you use the pad without placing the device on a surface.