• Hands-On With RIM’s New BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 OS: Great, But Too Late?

    Jordan Crook

    Jordan Crook studied English Literature at New York University before entering the tech space. Prior to joining TechCrunch, Crook dabbled in mobile marketing and mobile apps as well as doing device reviews for MobileMarketer and MobileBurn. Crook is fascinated with alternative energy production and greentech. She is now a writer for CrunchGear. Hello → Learn More

    Thursday, January 12th, 2012

    When RIM first launched the BlackBerry PlayBook last spring, we were all rather shocked to find that RIM’s stand-out core services — secure messaging and productivity related apps like calendar and contacts — were… absent. The company promised an update to fix it, and after eight months said update has finally been unveiled here at CES.

    Truth be told, the new PlayBook OS is much better than expected, but I guess you start to set the bar low when the first time around was so disappointing. We got a chance to go hands-on with the new system here at CES, and recorded a video just for you fine readers.

    In it, you’ll see the new unified inbox which I find to be the best new feature. I also like the fact that you’re not bombarded with a home screen full of pre-set app tabs, but can now customize tabs to hold whatever apps you like. Everyone organizes themselves differently and on a tablet specifically designed for the productive professional, there shouldn’t be any restrictions to how you set yourself up.

    The only problem is that this is exactly what PlayBook 1.0 should have been, as Matt points out. RIM was relatively early to the tablet space, and flopped entirely. It would’ve been better to enter the tablet space now (with 2.0) than to try and regain consumer interest in what has become a rather crowded segment.


    Company: Blackberry
    Launch Date: 1984
    IPO: NASDAQ:BBRY

    BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) is a Canadian designer, manufacturer and marketer of wireless devices and solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. The company is best known as the developer of the BlackBerry smart phone. Blackberry technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. Blackberry was founded in 1984. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific....

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