Bloomberg: RIM to sell Playbook in Q1 2011, under $500

By on Nov 10, 2010 at 7:47 AM
Tablets November 10, 2010

Bloomberg is reporting that RIM’s Co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, indicated his company’s Playbook tablet would be available in North American markets in Q1 of 2011 for under $500. The $500 price point is notable for the industry as it is where Apple’s 16GB Wi-Fi iPad currently sits. The report also noted that “RIM may sell the Playbook through retail stores of Target Corp. and Best Buy Co.” and that the device would be available globally in Q2 of 2011. There you have it, a sub-$500, BlackBerry tablet waiting in the wings. Who’s excited?

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  • Cookie

    I’m really looking forward to this device

    • Anonymous

      Me too. I wonder how the battery life will be compared to the Galaxy Tab and the Ipad

      • zukidrvr

        Well, with no 3G or 4G radio burning up the power, only Bluetooth and WiFi it should be interesting. The battery has five times the capacity of their handsets. I love the idea of having a 7″ screen for my BlackBerry smartphone when I want to do more than one thing at a time. This thing has colossal potential for the corporate world. Every BlackBerry smartphone running 5.0 or higher sold is a potential PlayBook sale. You can’t say that about the other tablets.

        I played with the Tab yesterday and found the screen display and device underwhelming. It wasn’t particularly fast. I’m sure it will sell well, but it’s not for me. It seemed like another pricey “me too” product. It doesn’t add much functionality to an Android phone. The PlayBook is a “follow me” product. It can only help the industry get to the specs that all tablets should have. It gives you a 7″ window to everything on your BlackBerry smartphone, as well as everything it is connected to. I like that.

      • zukidrvr

        Oh, and hardware accelerated Flash. Mmmm mmmm good. AIR development tools. Cool. POSIX-based OS (like Linux and OSX) lots of apps to get ported over for an OS that’s been around for 3 decades.

        Contract free. Sold.

  • Hayweed

    so $499 for a tablet with 1/2 that of the iPad. Fail

    • Freelancer

      Right… so something that is more portable, functional and useful is a fail?

      • Scott

        Well, it’s really not that much more portable. Sure, 7″ screen is smaller than 9.7″ screen, but lets not kid ourselves, you’re not going to fit a 7″ tablet in your pocket, so you’re still going to carry it around, hence, portability isn’t much different.

        Function of the Playbook has kind of yet to be determined. Yes, it’s a well developed OS, I’ll give you that, but until we have apps running on this, we wont know the capabilities of this tablet yet (and lets hope it looks nothing like App World in the next year). But that HDMI out is pretty sick!

        And useful… well, if you have a BB, then it sounds like you’ll get more function out of this tablet. But lets be honest, it’s a tablet, I thought just 6 months ago people were saying “well, I’ve got a laptop or a netbook, why would I waste money on a tablet, it’s stupid!” Well, now that the Android fanboys have the Tab coming out and BB fanboys have the Playbook… all of a sudden, these tablets seem like hot shit.

      • Vee

        The huge hype that Apple builds around apps is not really relevant to the Playbook. If you’ve actually read up on the device, you’d have known that it’s being built to provide a true web experience, rendering apps like facebook and twitter obsolete as you’d have access to the actual website. And if you’re more into games and the like, the new QNS based OS allows for those apps to be easily portable from Android.

      • Anonymous

        Wait until the Microsoft fanboys get a real dedicated tablet OS from Redmond. Then the flamewars will really erupt. But it will probably be released 2 years from now, making it irrelevant against the iPad, Android and Chrome OS tablets, and likely the RIM/BlackBerry PlayBook.

        After all, Windows 7 and Windows Embedded Compact 7 don’t count as a “real tablet OS”… one is too heavy for low-power processors, and the other has no apps.

    • bluemouse

      Yeah, half the size( well, 7/9) with double (or triple, due to to better model processors) the processing power, 4x the RAM, flash, HDMI out, 1080p video.

      They fit all that in to something smaller and more portable. It’s the exact opposite of fail.

    • Wassa_b

      Back to ghetto blaster age are we?

  • http://twitter.com/chrispgriffin Chris Griffin

    RIM’s made all the right moves with the PlayBook, so far. Here’s to hoping they follow through.

  • http://twitter.com/slbailey2 slbailey2

    I’m really looking forward to playing with this tablet! I’m hoping that this tablet has Exchange and a unified mailbox without being connected to a Blackberry phone and there servers – I’m not giving up my HTC Incredible.

  • Flavio

    Sounds like a winner.

    I find nothing wrong with this device so far, and I hope they don’t mess it up.

  • http://twitter.com/Moestepp Morrison Stepp Jr

    I like the device overall, however they are to slow to develop products that the consumer wants. BB6 is like going from XP to Vista.

    • QNX Please

      Good thing RIM is using its QNX OS on the Playbook then, and should be coming out with QNX based phones next year, 10000 series phones anyone….Next year will be an important year for RIM, if they don’t hit it out of the park with an impressive QNX based phone line up and nail the Playbook launch, and encourage stronger App development, they will start going down fast and be relegated to the business market. Judging by Android and iPhone sales, consumers don’t seem to care about things like battery life, reception or data compression, and care more about how sexy the OS looks, even if its crippled like iOS, or that it has 300,000 apps, even if they only ever download 4.

  • PandaBarr

    I really want this to take off and work. Each day the “I want and iPhone” “Why?” “I dunno.. cause its the iPhone, it has apps?” is becoming less relevant as Android is becoming the mainstream norm competitor, much the same way WP7 will be as well. (Think back to when every smartphone was thought to be a Blackberry just because it was the standard.)

    With the GalaxyTab, Playbook, Slate, Rumored Palm and HTC Tablets around the corner the idea that the ONLY tablet on the market is the iPad will diminish as well. Competition is a good thing.

    • Justinbeiber

      and how would the iPad diminish? hah they come out with new models, just as a FYI since you live in sheltered world…the iPad community will get stronger since it is the norm for tablets…think before you speak…i thought you would have learned that from your parents

      • Jason

        Buddy,

        I came over to my buddy house the other day and saw he was using his Ipad as a table coaster. I asked him why and what gives? he said all it does is surf and read magazine so that is where it should be, on the table. Try to put it up on Craigslist and get nothing but low ballers so he decided to use it a coaster, an attractive one I must say. When ever you place your cup on top the screen lit up and the wall paper kicks in, sweet.

    • HelveticaNeue

      Every device has some idiots who use them and don’t know why, making comments like “cause it has a blinking red light” or “it’s the best at email” (whatever that means), or “cause RIM is Canadian”. iOS is definitely not excluded from a reasonable percentage of dumb users, but there is a lot more to like about the iPad than just the apps.

  • Anonymous

    Where this works best when paired with with a blackberry handset, I can’t imagine it would be worth buying without having one. Shame RIM can’t come up with any modern handsets to pair it with, heres hoping.

    • bluemouse

      Perhaps you should read a bit about this product more before commenting. It works as a fully functional tablet without the device pairing. Pairing with your blackberry is just an added feature that allows you to extend the display of the blackberry onto a larger screen (albeit you also currently need to pair for 3g internet, but 3g versions are coming out a bit later). I’d rather be able to share my phone’s 3g internet instead of having to pay for another data plan anyway.

  • Anonymous

    I for one will line up at bestbuy when this launches.

    • Dupasalata

      There will be no line to line up. Same with recent RIM devices.

      • http://twitter.com/grahamfluet Graham Fluet

        That just means I’ll have less of a wait time.

      • Jason

        Buddy,

        Professional people don’t line up, roadies and fanboys do. Why? too much time on hands? yeah, and/or maybe just enjoy skipping schools or just doesn’t want to be home when the foreclosure officer knocking on the doors.

  • Dizzy

    PlayBook:
    - most advanced specs: YES
    - most advanced multitasking: YES
    - most advanced web: YES
    - great price: YES

  • jk

    By the time this gets released, I don’t think many people are going to care.

    • Woopwoop

      very short sided comment here – thats like speculating people won’t care about the upcoming smartphone launches because they haven’t launched yet

  • Attila S

    next years?
    too much water will go under the bridge before we will see it,

  • BlackberryFan

    I’m so buying one of these when they come out! :D

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HS7PURI556RHOVIUFTA6YQO5VY Kris

    The PlayBook brings a few interesting things to the table. One of the qualms that people had with the iPad was the enterprise use or need. Aside from the cool factor could there be a real time business applications for the iPad. I think we have seen larger company’s adopt and support, hence Apple the leader in sales. What the PlayBook brings to the table is corporate IT support. Many companies already have a BlackBerry server in place to support corporate users. Adding a new device to that infrastructure won’t be difficult.

    A few things that also make this cool:
    We have heard that the PlayBook battery life is estimated to be double that of the iPad.
    We also heard the price point may be well bellow the $500 target.
    HMDi – how do you do you not like this.

    I am excited to see where this will play in the ever so growing tablet wars.

    Cheers.
    Disposable Hero
    Mobile Empire

    • Parshooter220

      Only problem with the corporate IT support. They will greatly limit personal apps basically making it an extension of the corporate laptop. No thanks. That’s why I leave my corporate issue equipment at the office.

    • Misterredtape

      Lot of corps already have built in iPhone support. Adding iPad took less than a month at my corp, piggybacking on existing iOS device support.

  • Andrew

    Not me!

  • Anonymous

    The question that matters for me and others is what type of data plan that they will offer

    Will they screw consumers with high priced, laughably low caps or make a reasonable plan that offers actual data with reasonable prices?

    • QNX Please

      People who currently have a BlackBerry phone, the data plan is zero, as it tethers to your and uses that data plan. When the 3G or 4G version comes out, you’ll probably expect similar data plans to the iPad for non-BlackBerry users. The question is does the Playbook utilize BB Data compression, because that would make a massive difference in data usage for a tablet.

      • Karls

        When using the phone to tether it will use the data compression. No word yet on the standalone version

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Mills/1297480565 Matthew Mills

    These tablets coming out seem good but i think i would wait for the next generation. When the tablets are bigger than 7 inches. I know its an android thing thats keeping them at 7inches. But i think the standard should be 9.7 or 10 inches. Just easier to see more and interact more. A lot of smartphones already have a 4 inch screen. Adding another 3 inches to it doesnt really add to much more usage out of it.

  • Green_Laser

    i am 100% looking fwd to it! more than likely will buy.

  • http://weikeer.blogbus.com/ WEIKEE

    We have heard that the PlayBook battery life is estimated to be double that of the iPad.
    We also heard the price point may be well bellow the $500 target.
    HMDi – how do you do you not like this.

  • LGR

    im gonna put 500 aside to make shure i can get one as soon as it is available!

  • Kalli

    The ipad-playbook comparisons here are missing the point. RIM is not especially focused on the consumer market with this device, although arguably it has some exceptional features like 2.2 million pre-loaded e-books via Kobo that consumers who like to read (versus those who like to play video games) will eat up. But enterprise IT has NEVER embraced the ipad. Sure, some large and hip businesses will issue the ipad and iphone to their people as a perk, but it is not a secure device and will NEVER be adopted for enterprise use like health care, government, security/policing/military, banking, etc etc etc. This is the market that RIM is really after, and it is one they already own – and it is far more lucrative than the (notably depressed) north american consumer market. Yes this will launch in Q1 to consumers, but the real story is enterprise adoption of the device – that’s where sales will skyrocket. Nobody is doing that market like RIM, Apple will never catch up to even begin to compete here. And I don’t see anyone else ‘climbing that massive mountain’ that Jobs is pretending RIM has in front of them.

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