Tag Archives: playbooks

Jun 12

RIM dumps 16GB Playbook variant, others stay

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RIM has pulled off the production of the 16GB PlayBook model. the remaining stocks in the market are the last to be seen in the market, as after that Research in Motion will not produce the 16GB PlayBook anymore.

The Canadian mobile company has also mentioned that they will continue to remain committed to the tablet space and the 32GB and 64GB models of the BlackBerry PlayBook continue to be available from their distributors and retailers around the world.

Earlier when RIM first launched the PlayBook they were a bit over priced and were quite equal to the iPad 2 models, which were already selling at a very high rate. Later after they couldn’t make a healthy business they had to reduce the price of their devices. However, the main problem with their Playbooks was they shipped without any native email and calendar application. the Application store of BlackBerry also had very less applications as compared to that of the iOS Store and Android Market.

The price of this 16GB model is around $199 which resembles the Kindle Fire’s price. So we may guess the fate of the 16GB model of PlayBook. Both the devices were also at the same size so it seems like it has not been able to make a good impression in the market and was not a very good competition for the Amazons Kindle Fire Tablets.

However as this product is already on halt in production so if you like to have one for you then this is the last chance for you to grab the device. the device is currently on sale in Best buy priced at $199.

RIM dumps 16GB Playbook variant, others stay

Mar 15

Blackberry Playbook Future Concepts !

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Blackberry have a relatively quiet Mobile World Congress this year, but they did showcase a number of interesting “Future Concepts” for their Blackberry Playbook.

The first conceptual demo shows the Blackberry Playbook being used to host a futuristic meeting !

Before the meeting starts you setup your Blackberry Playbooks in a group by using a camera in the ceiling and linking them in Bluetooth. You can then share files to any Blackberry in the meeting by selecting their location on the screen, which is indicated by colour blobs !

You can also setup close-collaboration groups which removes  a number of devices from the main meeting group.

You can learn more about the technology in the video above.

The second video shows using a Blackberry Playbook to make a futuristic presentation in work.

The software enables you to use a Playbook linked to a projector and controlled by a smartphone to make a presentation.

The smartphone can then be used to control the presentation and amazingly you can also add slides to the presentation using the smartphone while the Playbook is still showing it. the new slides will also automatically follow the preset layout and font , as well as supporting the addition of images.

You can view more about the conceptual presentation feature in the video above.

Blackberry Playbook Future Concepts !

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Dec 06

Where Did the BlackBerry PlayBook Go Wrong?

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COMMENTARY | BlackBerry manufacturer RIM hasn’t quite crossed the threshold set by HP’s $99 fire sale of its TouchPad tablet. but its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet dropped to the $199 mark on the weekend of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and has been the subject of numerous promotions aimed at businesses, such as a buy-two-get-one-free offer. [...]

COMMENTARY | BlackBerry manufacturer RIM hasn’t quite crossed the threshold set by HP’s $99 fire sale of its TouchPad tablet. but its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet dropped to the $199 mark on the weekend of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and has been the subject of numerous promotions aimed at businesses, such as a buy-two-get-one-free offer.

In a December 2 press release, RIM announced that it was writing off $485 million in unsold PlayBooks for the third quarter of 2012, an amount that Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum estimates amounts to about 1.4 million tablets. the question is, where did RIM go wrong with the PlayBook?

Mixed marketing messages

“Amateur hour is over,” the PlayBook‘s early ads announced, in an obvious jab at the iPad … and all others besides “the world’s first professional-grade tablet.” but if its “Amplified BlackBerry Experience” didn’t win over corporate customers, many of which are now investigating internal iPad deployments, its widely-touted ability to play Need for Speed at the same time as HD movies didn’t impress the IT department either. Meanwhile, its enterprise features like BlackBerry messaging were lost on the crowd at Best buy.

Lack of unique features

Besides a seeming confusion over whether it was targeting businesses or home users, the PlayBook’s inability to set itself apart from other tablets didn’t help matters either. It promised Adobe Flash web browsing, but so did every Android tablet; and it offered “True Multitasking,” but for some reason that never captured people’s attention.

The PlayBook’s most distinctive feature was actually an anti-feature: Its inability to access your email, calendar, and contacts without being connected to a BlackBerry smartphone. RIM has promised to solve this in a February update, but that will leave almost a year that it will have been on the market without them.

Lack of quality apps and content

App developers like Jamie Murai were turned off by RIM’s requirements for PlayBook developers, including a convoluted process to install the necessary tools and a notarized proof of identity that had to be physically mailed to RIM. Partly because of this, the PlayBook suffered from a dearth of apps.

Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble were able to achieve success in the tablet market by selling half-sized e-readers, each tied to their online bookstores and to services like Netflix. but with few big-name content partnerships, the PlayBook was all dressed up with nothing to read or watch.

The PlayBook isn’t the iPad

The iPad continues to not only define the tablet category, but break its own records in sales. Any tablet that isn’t the iPad has an uphill battle to fight to gain traction … the BlackBerry PlayBook included.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/where-did-blackberry-playbook-wrong-184400519.html

Where Did the BlackBerry PlayBook Go Wrong?

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Dec 03

$200 Blackberry Playbook Pulled From Retail ...

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PC World — Days after the Blackberry Playbook tablet’s price dropped to $200 and up, something strange is going on: Retailers are removing the Playbook from their online catalogs, and some best Buy customers say their orders have been canceled.

Electronista first noticed some customer complaints on best Buy’s forums. Customers said best Buy took their orders and charged their credit cards, only to cancel the orders a couple days later.

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Best Buy representatives apparently told customers that it had “overextended” with its cheap Playbook offer–the tablet’s full retail price is $500 and up–but that doesn’t explain why the Playbook isn’t listed online anymore. only refurbished Playbooks are listed now, and they’re all sold out online.

Staples, meanwhile, lists only the 64 GB Playbook for $399.99, and OfficeMax lists the 32 GB model for $299.99. Neither retailer lists the $200 Playbook at the moment.

Best Buy and Research in Motion did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

My guess is that retailers were only given a certain number of heavily discounted Playbooks to sell, and they sold much faster than expected. (As we learned from the HP TouchPad, people go crazy for huge discounts on expensive tablets.) Faced with listing the Playbook at a higher price or at a lower price that may never be offered again, retailers may have removed the listings entirely for now. Again, I’m just speculating, but given Research in Motion’s statements of being committed to the Playbook, I don’t think this a sign of the tablet going away.

Fortunately, bargain hunters can still order the $200 Blackberry Playbook from RIM’s online shop. and according to SlickDeals, the coupon code “09OLTY12″ gives an extra $10 off, plus free shipping.

The Playbook received a middling reviews from the tech press, mainly because the software was buggy at launch, and because the tablet doesn’t have native apps for e-mail, contacts and calendars. RIM says those apps will arrive with a major software update in February.

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$200 Blackberry Playbook Pulled From Retail Listings, Some Orders Canceled