RIM is keeping the PlayBook party going. While speaking at a BlackBerry World breakfast with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins stated the company plans to launch an LTE-enabled PlayBook by the end of the year. However, the CEO didn’t detail the projected release date, price or available wireless carrier.
This is a smart move for RIM. Rather than spending the time and resources producing another tablet, RIM is instead concentrating efforts on making sure upcoming software works on existing hardware. During a recent trip Rim’s Waterloo campus, the company made it clear to TechCrunch that it is very much committed to bringing BlackBerry 10 to the PlayBook. → Read More
Jailbreaking, a term that has come to encompass several practices but generally refers to a user obtaining root access on their device, is controversial in a strange way. Companies like Apple and Nintendo hate it, and most users don’t care about it. Yet it’s constantly in the news because it is, in fact, a philosophical conflict.
RIM has posted an official response to the habit of jailbreaking BlackBerry devices, particularly PlayBooks, though the post doesn’t mention the product by name. Probably because it would be hard to argue against users creating functionality for the device that should have existed there in the first place. → Read More
It’s not nice to knock a company when it’s down, but I had a briefing earlier today in Barcelona with Alec Saunders, the head of developer relations at RIM, which — depending on whether you support RIM or not — either speaks to the company’s new, original attack on the market, or a sign of why it won’t succeed.
The bottom line is that RIM, in a way, seems to think that size doesn’t matter these days. → Read More
By most accounts there aren’t very many people out there in the world using PlayBooks, but for those that are, or are considering the purchase of one, comes some good news: RIM has finally updated the OS to include two services that have been long discussed and much anticipated: integrated email support and Android app availability.
The OS could serve to give the device a boost in the market, after many people slammed RIM for shipping the tablet too early when it debuted last year without these and other features. → Read More
Back in November, there was a run on PlayBooks when the price was briefly reduced to $199. For a tablet that started out with a premium price, the deal proved enticing to many buyers. And again at the beginning of January, with a slightly odd promotion pricing all models at $299. Well, they’re at it again: until the 11th, the PlayBook is priced to move: $199 for the 16GB version, $249 for 32GB, and $299 for 64GB.
Unfortunately, the device won’t be shipping with the 2.0 version of the PlayBook software that we played with at CES. They will be rolling out the update soon, though. → Read More
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. → Read More
CES generally isn’t RIM’s stomping ground, but the Canadian company is here in force. Chief among RIM’s news is details about the upcoming PlayBook refresh. Available for download next month, PlayBook 2.0, as RIM is calling it, seems to right many of the PlayBook’s wrongs. This is the feature set the tablet so badly needed at launch. → Read More
Well, if you were hoping to snag a BlackBerry PlayBook on the cheap, it looks like now’s the time to act. In what seems like a move born of desperation, all models of the PlayBook are now going for $299 on RIM’s online store.
Previous PlayBook sales have set the beginning price point at $199 for the 16GB model, but this time you’ll be able to purchase a 64GB PlayBook for the same price as a 16GB model. → Read More
It’s clear that the BlackBerry PlayBook is a tough sell (unless you don’t have to pay for them), but that hasn’t stopped RIM and their retail partners from going nuts with PlayBook promotions. To wit: Best Buy, Staples, and Office Depot have dropped the prices of RIM’s tablet yet again, starting at $199 for the 16GB model. → Read More
Wow!
They must be breaking mirrors, opening umbrellas and walking under ladders over at RIM because this is starting to get unbelievable. A big rig, carrying around $1.7 million worth of BlackBerry PlayBooks, was stolen in Indiana.
The PlayBook has been a rough product for the Waterloo-based company. While RIM did quite a bit right with the little tab, lack of native email and calendar support made it a tough sell. The price tag didn’t help either, though RIM’s done what it can to squash that issue. In fact, PlayBook sales are actually looking up compared to what they’ve been. → Read More
RIM has announced that it will be taking over half a billion dollars in charges related to two major failures this fiscal year. First is the immense overproduction of the Playbook tablet, the writedown of which inventory amounted to $485M on its own, or $360M after tax. The second charge is related to the prolonged network outage in early October, though it’s unclear whether that money is directly related or being reserved for dealing with ongoing costs like lawsuits.
Sales of handsets and services were as forecasted, but a lack of growth must be inferred by their waning market share, and at any rate the sales weren’t enough to put RIM at their expected revenue of $5.3 billion for the upcoming quarter. Quarterly earnings are at a level with guidance and predictions of around $1.20 per share, but yearly earnings will miss the expected $5.25 per share, and analysts are calling for as little as $3.50. → Read More
One of the primary criticisms of the BlackBerry PlayBook, and rightly so, was the omission of native email, contacts, and calendar applications. It was troubling then that they hadn’t considered these primary activities as important to address natively, and it’s troubling that it has taken then so very long deliver these elementary functions.
RIM originally said these reviews weren’t “fair,” but regardless of the quality of the OS and the device itself (both of which seem perfectly fine), it’s criminal to subject your loyal users to such a long wait for an email client competitive with Apple and Google. But at least the apps are being finalized, and were just showed off at the BlackBerry Innovation Forum. → Read More
RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer will soon come pre-loaded with PressReader, a digital news app from a company called NewspaperDirect.
The application offers one-click access to more than 2,000 ‘replica’, full-content newspapers from close to 100 countries. → Read More
We reported earlier this week that Staples and Office Depot are running sales promotions for the ailing BlackBerry PlayBook, and today another big-box retailer has jumped into the fray. CNET reports that Best Buy has begun to sell all models of the PlayBook with a hefty $200 discount.
That price break brings RIM’s 16GB model down to $299, the 32GB model to $399, and the 64GB model to $499.
→ Read More
Canadian RIM fans have been privy to some solid deals on RIM’s ailing PlayBook tablet recently, and now those price cuts are beginning to pop up Stateside. Both Office Depot and Staples are now offering their selection of PlayBooks with some significant discounts. → Read More
It may not be quite the savings we got from the $100 TouchPad, but taking $150 off the top of the PlayBook’s price may help move a few more units. We haven’t heard much lately regarding RIM’s first tablet, which received lukewarm reviews and promptly dropped off the radar. The last bit of news had native email and BBM coming some time this month. But wait! A wild news item appears! → Read More
The BlackBerry PlayBook is impressive upon first look. You pick it up, quickly scroll through the apps, and jump online. It all works like it’s supposed to. But then you find out it can’t hook up to your email; a BlackBerry needs to be connected through the BlackBerry Bridge. This connection also enables BBM, calendar and an address book, but an update due next month will finally bake several key features into the PlayBook. → Read More
The BlackBerry Playbook has some dedicated fans. Not many, of course, but they are certainly out there. One such fan took to the CrackBerry.com forums with a rather novel idea on how to support RIM and the PlayBook: retail evangelism, ninja-style.
His plan, at least in part, is to help the PlayBook cause by sneaking a poster into stores that shows some tips, tricks, and basic functions. His thought is that this will help increase PlayBook sales by showing consumers the basic’s of the device. Because, you know, a quality product needs basic instructions.
→ Read More
It seems that RIM might have gotten the memo that consumers aren’t exactly flocking to the BlackBerry Playbook. The same site that broke specs about the 10-incher a few weeks ago is now reporting that it’s been axed. Like killed dead. → Read More
The Playbook is a study in missed opportunities. The sexy form factor, interesting new UI elements, and distinct, recognizable branding should have set it apart and made it a real player in the tablet game. Instead, it’s a mishmash of consumer and pro features, and missing things that would give any shopper pause. Why would they go to market without even a native email client? Sources say it was in fact a fundamental limitation of the Blackberry system. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
