BlackBerry PlayBook production in full swing ahead of launch

By on Jan 28, 2011 at 12:17 PM
Tablets January 28, 2011

Rumors of possible delays may be further quashed on Friday as industry watcher DigiTimes reports that production of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is now in full swing. Quanta, the China-based manufacturer charged with building the BlackBerry tablets, is said to have ramped up production ahead of the device’s anticipated release in March. A pace of 150,000 to 200,000 units per month has reportedly been reached, and shipments could be ready as soon as next month. Quanta is said to be building PlayBook tablets in its facilities in Taiwan, though the majority of its plants are located in mainland China. An earlier report from DigiTimes claims that RIM has 1 million BlackBerry PlayBook tablets on order in the first quarter of 2011. RIM plans to launch a Wi-Fi-only version of its PlayBook tablet in March, while 3G and 4G versions are expected later in the first half of this year.

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  • Anonymous

    nice..bring it on RIM..

    • http://twitter.com/apdcgt greentea

      the only thing that turns me away is the shady requirement of a BB phone. I say shady because there has not been a definitive answer on whether or not we need a bb phone to use this device.

      • Anonymous

        You don’t need a BB phone to use the device, unless by “use the device” you mean calendar and BBM. Oh, wait. Blackberrys aren’t good for anything other than calendar and BBM anyway. So, to answer your question, though you don’t literally need a BB phone to use the PlayBook, the non BB phone features are likely to be dreadful.

      • Burninator

        Except we’ve seen many of the other features and they’re actually awesome. The music, video, photo and browser demos have been excellent and the multitasking is second to none. Also, RIM has stated it will be making calendar and email apps available that run on the PlayBook regardless of whether you have a BlackBerry soon after launch. Obviously, BBM won’t happen, but that’s to be expected. If you’re really desperate for a calendar right away, I’m sure there will be one in App World.

      • Zod

        Yeah, because having full embed flash in a webkit browser and multi-tasking capabilities not available on any other tablet device is dreadful

      • Peter

        Troll…. you disgust me with all your trolling.

      • Spakel

        Why does everyone seem to forget that their are third party apps? Like um…. GMAIL for one.
        Just download a third party app, you seem to be happy doing that on your Apple/Android device.

      • uCosom

        You do not need a BB to use this device. It’s WiFi ready.

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

    If anyone says something along the lines of “RIM IS DOOMED!!” or “Should hve ANDROID!1″ that person owes me a dollar.

    • http://twitter.com/clientsfromhell Mr Multimedia

      Here, have 2 dollars.

      Rim is doomed
      Android!1

      kidding ;)

  • Anonymous

    150-200K per month? As shockingly low as those run rates are I must say that RIM has some balls to even have their goals for this product to be that high. I am the first person to defend RIM and let everyone know that RIM knows their customers extremely well but this product isn’t the winner that RIM needs it to be to be successful in the Tablet space.

    RIM
    HP
    Everything with Android
    Windows (I know, funny)

    They are all competing for mind share in a segment with an extremely small amount of customers Most of those customers are already planning on buying either the incumbents current product or their next one. Race to the bottom folks, race to the bottom.

    • QNX Please

      First to defend RIM…. lmao you are a fanboy, your previous posts prove it.

    • Private Citizen

      Okay, stop kidding around. You have never, ever defended RIM so enough sarcasm.

      The customer based for the wi-fi Playbook will not be your average tablet customers. The first wave will be the existing Blackberry customers. Remember, there are close to 60 million of them. Even if we assume 10% of them get the initial version (a conservative estimation, in my opinion), we are talking about 6 million Playbooks. When the 3/4G version comes out in the summer, the size of the addressable market suddenly explodes. There is a business reason why RIM went with wi-fi blackberry tether option with the first Playbook. It’s called a captive audience who will gladly buy the Playbook as they will not be required to fork over another $60/month for a data plan.

    • Peter

      Why? It’s going to be the best tablet on the market. Are you out of your mind?

    • IgnatzKrebz

      Shocking that NewReign shows up to bash a competing product to Apple.

      You are the biggest Apple defender on this message board. Its disturbing that I can literally set my clock to you responding to a Playbook or Android tablet story. Ive asked you before and you’ve never answered regarding what your agenda is? Are you just an Apple fanatic or do you own stock in the company and are just trying to drum up negativity for competing products? Which is it?

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZX7I3VN423YBFEWTEQOQ5JR5ME Retro

      Like I said in another post.

      Jobs is gonna be dead in 3 months. Then what are you going to do?

  • BOldBuRry

    oH sNaP jiGga JigGa yOu DiD iT aGaIn!!!1

    aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh yeeEeEEeeeEe hit me on my bLaCk burry,,,,,,,,,,
    mah black burry burry
    uh mah black burry burry

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    whAthCaa whAtchAa know jigga jigga

    blackburry iS the bEsT jigga jigga

    yeh uhh uhh yeah uhh uhh you so nice black burry

    uhh yeah

    oh sh*t you so nice burry, i wAnNa c U m on you blackk burry

    uhh yeah hit me on mah black burry, mah black burry burry

  • drew dogg

    I played with this thing… I loved it. Then I thought about it later and I was like, y can’t their phones run like this?

    • serpentor

      How were you able to play with it?

      • Private Citizen

        Sorry, dude. He’s under the non-disclosure agreement…or maybe he went to the greatest show on earth – CES!

    • uCosom

      Their phones will run like it, just not tomorrow. They are working on it though.

  • Anonymous

    Can’t wait to get one.

    • Yves

      Ditto

  • Smellyalater

    FAIL

    IPad has a lock on the tablet space.

    • Zod

      Troll. Spoken like a true Apple sheep

      • Smellyalater

        Don’t be upset at the fact the IPad 2 that’s coming out will own your face. Potential retina display, improved form etc.. that will set them apart from the competition, yet again. Keep drooling over your Android honeycomb, froyo, and whatever ridculous OS name they come up with for their fragmented garbage, along with the ever so dead in the water RIM products. Enjoy your obsolete playbook, ya ass jacket.

      • QNX Please

        You mean the iPad 2 will come with capabilities it should have had to start with, so the Apple drones will buy one to replace their original iPad…. When it came out everyone complained about no USB, no SD, no cameras…. now its getting Camera’s and possibly a USB and SD port and not much else, yet Job’s will trumpet it as a revolution.

      • David

        There is a bridge across town that’s waiting for you to crawl underneath it.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZX7I3VN423YBFEWTEQOQ5JR5ME Retro

        I say in 3 months Jobs is dead. Then what are you going to do?

      • mydragon

        what fragmentation? just because there are different OS versions? dun IOS have that? and what’s this business about Mac Store and the iPhone Apps store being different? that’s not fragmentation coming from ONE company? :)

        oh… ‘potential’… that’s the keyword. not even confirmed. not even out. i wonder who’s copying who?

    • David

      no it won’t. it might NOW, but it won’t in the near future, Mr. Apple-fanboi. Go peddle your twisted comments elsewhere.

    • Tony

      Just like how BlackBerry had a “lock” on the smart phone space?

      • Apple Fanboy

        Correction. The iPhone has a lock on the smartphone space. The iPhone 4 has an old remington look to it, which makes it the classiest, and most stylish full featured phone of all time. Notice how Android comes out with 4 phones a month, and they still can’t top the iphone. Game, set, match.

      • QNX Please

        Android doesn’t release any phones, third party manufacturers do. I guess Google has release 2 phones over the past 2 years, both trumped the iPhone. Nexus One and Nexus S are ahead of their time, the Nexus one which was released last Jan was better then the current iPhone 4, the reason it didn’t sell well was because it was available for T-Mobile only, and only available online with no contract to begin with, so $599. Nexus S has NFC capabilities before the infrastructure is in place, guess whats on the table for the iPhone 5… NFC. iPhone is 80% hype 20% function, the damn thing can barely even make calls with out a bumper.

  • Max

    7″: Too small. Just ask your girlfriends, if you have one, BB MORONS. Too large to tote, too small to be useful. The exact perfect Charlie Brown size for failure. Coulda been 8. Coulda been 6. Charlie Brown RIMJOB happens to choose the exact perfect wrong size. Looks like the Blackpad..whoops…that was gonna be an awkward name, wasn’t it morons? Looks like the PLAYbook will be a total failure. Tech morons will buy it but since they are usually sales bots in Starbucks, expect poor sales due to poor $.

    • uCosom

      Hey Max, you have a severe inferiority complex. A little worried about the competition I guess? If it’s too small to be useful, then the iPhone definitely is too small. If it’s to big to be useful, then how do millions of people carry around laptops everyday that are several times the size of the PlayBook.

      Maybe you’ll get a nice lolipop for your 10th birthday though. Keep trying….

    • mydragoon

      i think 7″ is just nice. i believe we’re shifting towards using tablets as an all-in-one device. phone, organiser, gps, media player, VC device, ebook reader, you-name-it…

      with 7″, it is just about the size of a traditional paper organiser and it will be carried that way — possibly in leather casing and held in the hand or in a jacket. phone calls can be answered using BT earpieces. ringtones could actually read out the names of the callers instead of the traditional ring so users don’t actually need to look at the device to see who is calling.

  • sartttt

    Toys R’ Us is gonna sell it too? It’s a play-book.

    • Ef4ig

      If they do I am sure it will be sitting in the glass case next to the Apple products they sell.

  • mydragoon

    just wondering… will the 3G version of the playbook allow users to make calls as well? i’m assuming you won’t be putting it next to your face but rather with a BT earpiece or something like that.

  • Anonymous

    Playbook… To jailbreak or not to jailbreak. That is the question.

  • MaxPayne79

    RIM tuns my crank. along with Olivia Wilde and Nicholas Cage which…im not sure what thats about but im gonna leave it alone for now.

  • http://mobile-development.spinxwebdesign.com/iphone-application-development iPhone application development

    There is a huge market waiting for Blackberry Playbook, Blackberry fully confident regarding their Playbook.

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