Apple is to buy Etch A Sketch in a bid to remove the the main rival to the California computer giant's iPad.
The move comes on the heels of the death of the inventor of the Etch A Sketch, Andre Cassagnes at the age of 86.
A Silicon Valley insider said:
'Apple wants to buy the Ohio Art Company, the US-based firm that makes the tablet. Its acquisition will remove the main threat to the iPad.'
The mechanical tablet's advanced technology - which has sold 100 million copies - creates erasable drawings by twisting two dials. Its familiar red-frame, grey screen and two white dials, allows the user to draw something and shake it away to start again.
The late Steve Jobs is said to have got the idea for the iPad from Etch A Sketch and to have copied its design.
No film of the life of Cassagnes is planned.