Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) said its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer will go on sale in the United States on April 19, as it seeks to compete with Apple Inc.’s iPad, Bloomberg reported.

The announcement ends weeks of speculation as to when RIM would begin selling the PlayBook to address the lead the iPad has grabbed among business customers. Apple has said more than 65 percent of Fortune 100 companies are testing or deploying the iPad.

RIM’s Jim Tobin, senior vice president of software and business services, said the company has shown the PlayBook to a “significant” portion of Fortune 100 companies, and interest in the device is high. Prices for the three different models are the same as comparable iPad models, said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

The PlayBook will go on sale in more than 20,000 stores in the United States and Canada operated by Staples Inc., RadioShack Corp., Office Depot Inc. and also can be purchased from AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless. That distribution is more than double the availability of Apple’s updated iPad2, which went on sale earlier this month.

In related news, a federal judge has ordered Apple CEO Steve Jobs to answer questions relating to an antitrust lawsuit that says the company’s iTunes software maintained a monopoly in portable digital media players and music downloads, Reuters reported. Jobs has been out on medical leave since late January.