Asus is reportedly preparing to launch another Apple iPad rival, the second-generation of the Eee Pad Transformer, sometime around October this year.

Sources suggest that the next-generation Eee Pad Transformer will be thinner, lighter and faster than the current Transformer. In addition, it will offer a better battery life.

Sources also suggest that the Transformer 2 will be designed to challenge the third-generation iPad, dubbed iPad 3. Asus is reportedly working with the components suppliers on developing advantageous designs for its next tablet.

Asus’ current Eee Pad Transformer has reveived wide acclaim from reviewers as well as consumers. The expensive model, the one with a separable keyboard, is presently the best selling tablet on Amazon UK.

According to Yenting Chen and Adam Hwang, of Digitimes, Asus sold an estimated 400,000 Eee Pad Transformer tablets during the second quarter of 2011, and now aims to sell around 1 million units during the current quarter.

The Android OS 2.3 Gingerbread-based tablet features a 10.1-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen, two cameras, a dual core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage, and eight hour battery life.