UK retailers reveal plans to push BlackBerry PlayBook
Keep taking the tablets
Research in Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook may not have a UK release date as yet, but several retailers have announced they will be selling the device when it does become available.
Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U, Currys, PC World and Best Buy have all confirmed their involvement, although failed to divulge any further info with regards dates or pricing.
The 7in tablet launched in the US this week which features RIM's BlackBerry Tablet OS based on QNX Technologies that the company acquired a year ago.
Although it is possible to port Android apps to the device, reviewers have been underwhelmed by RIM's software offerings, in particular, the Playbook's lack of e-mail and BB Messenger. Not so long ago, the company claimed that the PlayBook would "shame the you know what". Well, the time has come and you'll be able to judge for yourselves soon enough.
The BlackBerry PlayBook will be on these shores before long and we'll let you know as we hear more. You can pre-register interest for further info at Carphone Warehouse or Phones4U. ®
COMMENTS
Nope
>>> Not so long ago, the company claimed that the PlayBook would "shame the you know what".
Whereas in reality it just seems to be embarrassing itself. And him.
Well..
They've had all the time in the world to get this right and it still comes out looking like a botched-up rushed wannabe. Alright no app support I can understand, it's early days so not many devs to write the apps yet, but no email client? That's just lazy and unforgivable in this day and age.
tablets are different?
The total number of iOS devices sold which are all 'hand-held computing devices'. Have a look at the Samsung filing, ~180 million iOS devices so far.
Second, this market segment of tablets that Apple has taken by storm, is not going to be such a push-over as the phone market.
Just asking, what would the Android share be really, if they weren't almost given away? Will the tablet market follow the same formula? Doesn't the cheap Android phone depend greatly on the carrier subsidy? What if folk aren't interested in having a data plan? That means the cost of the tablet will have to reflect the true cost of parts, R&D etc.
I'd still like to see HP come out with their WebOS tablet.
Horse, gate, bolted
So no email client or BB Messenger, few apps and you'd expect, being a RIM device, a price premium?
Meanwhile, there's another slightly larger device thats already sold 30-40 MILLION units, has thousands of apps and is likely to be about the same price you'd think, seeing as you have to pay a premium for those as well (they say).
Or there's the raft of Android wannabes that are a similar size to the PlayBook, but at least have email and plenty of apps as well as probably being a bit cheaper.
Anyone remember the Palm Folio? That sank without trace as well.
The Apple defence?
Well, I think no email is bit poor. But they could always use the Apple defence when a basic feature like copy/paste, MMS, Flash or video is missing: "But why would I need that?" and "But there are other ways of doing that. Apple, sorry, RIM have a whole new paradigm of doing this. So in fact, by not having this feature, it's better!"
"Meanwhile, there's another slightly larger device thats already sold 30-40 MILLION units"
Indeed, Android is looking better.
But since when does market share really matter? For phones, you don't see Apple fans worrying about the far bigger sellers of Nokia and Android, or the fact that Nokia and RIM were around years before Apple entered late.
As for "plenty of apps", well, remind me again what Apple fans say regarding software for Mac versus Windows on the desktop?
I'm no fan of this device from RIM. But I do think it funny that we hear all these reasons to promote the Ipad, despite the fact that in every other market Apple's in, Apple fans argue the complete opposite. Suddenly things like market share, who was in the market first, features or apps, no longer matter. Which is it?
(Incidentally, RIM have sold far more than 30-40 million handheld computing devices, far more than Apple probably. This is just one of their new products.)
