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RIM trims $300 from BlackBerry PlayBook prices

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:36PM EST
BGR

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Research In Motion’s debut tablet hasn’t bowled people over like the company had hoped, and now it is pushing a huge sale in hopes of drumming up interest during the holiday shopping season. For a limited time through participating retailers, RIM is offering its BlackBerry PlayBook slate for $300 below MSRP, representing savings of up to 60%. Sale pricing comes in at $199.99 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB version and $399 for the 64GB model, and participating retailers include Best Buy, Walmart RadioShack and more.

After selling 500,000 PlayBooks into channels during the tablet’s first quarter of availability, RIM sold just 200,000 units to distributors last quarter. Analyst checks indicate that sell-through is stalling as well, so a huge sale like this could be a last hurrah for the tablet. Users might enjoy the PlayBook if they give it a test drive, but a lack of apps, no PIM or email support and a lack of compelling features compared to the competition have kept the ball in Apple and Google’s court. Now, with a $199 Kindle Fire and $249 Nook Tablet having been released, the PlayBook’s odds drop even lower.

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Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.