Peter Andre takes on the iThingy

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Apple's latest gizmo may have grabbed all the headlines, but it was by no means the only ritzy launch ceremony on Wednesday.

It's flat and it's white, but it's not an Apple tablet

It was, in public relations terms, a bad day for a good launch.

With Apple's phenomenal publicity machine cranked up to 11, you had to feel a pang of sympathy for any PR executive who had inadvertently scheduled an event at the same time.

As speculation about Apple's hot new gadget snowballed, a publicity black hole was opening up - threatening to swallow the unveiling of any rival new product into a void of relative media indifference.

Yet even the spectre of Apple CEO Steve Jobs strutting the stage of the Yerba Buena Centre with what turned out to be an iPhone that had fallen foul of a steamroller failed to intimidate plucky Peter Andre.

While Mr Jobs was no doubt dotting the virtual "i"s on his speech, the Australian singer and one-time husband of Jordan was busy helping launch a new style of coffee for a national chain.

Braving the cameras - Peaches Geldof and Kate Moss

Apple may have had an auditorium stuffed with devoted fans emitting gasps of wonder as each function of the iPad was demonstrated, but Andre was performing to a bank of cameramen at a Costa Coffee in Piccadilly Circus.

The product, by the way, is called a flat white and is, basically, a bit less milky than a latte but a bit more than an old-style white coffee.

Andre wasn't the only celebrity on PR duty. Kate Moss was delicately bestriding the aftermath of Apple's publicity supernova with a handbag collection she was launching for French fashion firm Longchamp.

Meanwhile, publicity shy Peaches Geldof was equally exposed - fronting the launch of the new Miss Ultimo lingerie brand Carousel collection.

Who needs Apple when you've got jelly beans?

It's conceivable that the thought of bakery products could, for some at least, elicit the sort of whoops or whistles of appreciation that a tablet computer might do for others.

For this neglected sector of the population, Green's bakery's unveiling of its Cookies With Love biscuit mixture, timed to coincide with Valentine's Day, will no doubt be a high point of early 2010.

The same audience might have been mildly stirred by news that Fizziwiggs, a sweet shop in Brighton, East Sussex, unveiled a portrait of the Queen made up of 10,000 jelly beans.

Even the wider world of technology couldn't be cowed by the kings of Cupertino (which, for the uninitiated, is a byword for Apple Computer, Inc). The founders of Sofa.com gave the world its first look at a new online notice board and listings site called Ooh.com.

Bursting the iTablet bubble

While VocaLink, an "international payment transaction specialist", picked the same day to announce the launch of MyBillsOnline, a new online portal which enables consumers to view their bills and statements in one place regardless of which financial institution they bank with.

And while not strictly a product launch, Confused.com's bubble-wrapping of an entire street in Worcester - to highlight the number of car insurance claims - is notable for sheer PR chutzpah. iPad. What iPad?