RIM unveils 7-inch 'PlayBook' tablet set to launch in early 2011 - Page 7

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

Huh? Whatever they happen to be advertising, they are both advertisements.

Originally Posted by Groovetube

it seems to me a few people making some wild assumptions, based on nothing.

I don't have a crystal ball that tells me the success of this, but I'm amazed at how quickly people are shouting vapourware. It's RIM, not microsoft we're talking about

Originally Posted by addabox

I'd like to refer back to this. Several people are saying that it's highly unlikely or beyond the pale to think that RIM would wildly misrepresent their new OS-- that they'd have to be stupid or crazy to expose themselves to that kind of grief, and that there's no evidence that they're that stupid.

But Nokia did precisely this, and Nokia isn't generally thought of as "stupid", in that sense (they don't seem to be very good at hanging onto market share, but I never thought of them as duplicitous or erratic, particularly). But they went ahead and made that video. I can imagine the exact argument being made here being made upon viewing the N97 piece. The same admiration for the fluidity and style of the UI, the same dismissal of the idea that Nokia would be so insane as to just make shit up, the same request that someone provide evidence of Nokia's capacity for that level of folly.

I think the thread has confusingly conflated several meanings of "vaporware." I don't doubt that RIM will be shipping something, even if it's somewhat delayed. I also think it's entirely possible that that something won't actually behave much like the video, which plays more like a broad conceptual piece than a demonstration of any product. If that proves to be the case I'm sure RIM could point out that the application of screens to various real world objects made it clear that the video was just dreaming about the future, or something. But I really don't think it's out of the question that this kind of rendered publicity can get pretty far afield from actual shipping product.

Originally Posted by solipsism

Maybe there needs to be a new term for this highly polished, animated marketing.

Originally Posted by xSamplex

Y'know one company that is paranoid about releasing specs? Bose. And when you think about it, the complaints about Bose are similar to the ones about Apple. Basically that they advertise to overcome an inferior technical product. Of course, the complaints are from people who worry about crossover frequencies....

Still, it's kind of a striking similarity I never thought about before.

Originally Posted by anonymouse

Virtual Prototype.

Originally Posted by AIaddict

... Apple does not advertise to overcome an inferior technical product. Apple focuses on the aspects of the products that matter to normal non-geek humans and sometimes that means technical specs are not important or are even a hinderence. ...

Personally I think Apple is missing the boat on iPad 1. If they add USB ports and HDMI to the next version they will significantly increase the potential utility of the device, and widen the audience. ...

Originally Posted by solipsism

This is why I love community input! How about just shortening it and calling it a ProtoHype.

Originally Posted by cgc0202

... If Apple is ever going to use this LiquidMetal, as casing material, rather than used for special parts, it is likely that Jon Ivy, would hide the novelty of such a material with a coat of color. ...

Originally Posted by AIaddict

Terrible terrible comparison. Bose consumer speakers sound like shit for what you pay for them. I have demoed $200 speakers against a $1200 Bose system and it was not even close in any way. Bose had poor bass quality, a significant gap of missing mid bass frequencies, muddy mids and less detail in the highs. Pure crap. They know it too, the licensed retailers are not allowed to put them in demo rooms where customers can do a side by side and the demo material they play on them has been specifically selected not to show the warts.

Apple does not advertise to overcome an inferior technical product. Apple focuses on the aspects of the products that matter to normal non-geek humans and sometimes that means technical specs are not important or are even a hinderence. Take the mega pixels of the camera as a perfect example. Apple chose a camera for the iPhone 4 that will give people a pleasent looking snapshot with little need to tweek settings. It has excellent low light capability for a phone camera, especially in video mode. To do this they needed larger pixels and therefore less of them. Sure the Evo has an 8 mp camera compared to the iPhones 5 mp, but the pictures look worse, and the videos look simply horrid. HTC got the technical specs, Apple got the part that matters to people, quality images and simple editing software.

Personally I think Apple is missing the boat on iPad 1. If they add USB ports and HDMI to the next version they will significantly increase the potential utility of the device, and widen the audience. Right now it can be a netbook/notebook replacement for many people, hence the success, but it also CAN'T be a replacement for many other people. USB ports are real cheap and would go a long way. Same for HDMI video out. A more portable 7" version would be pretty cool but I would not want them to drop the 10". As for processor speed and RAM and other specs, it needs to be fast enough and have enough RAM, but I don't care what those numbers are. Just make it work. You have to give them credit for launching a very successful first product but I hope version 2 incorporates the ideas from the soon to arrive competition, as well as the existing netbook competition, and then exceeds them. That is why this Playbook is good news. Apple can't just add some more RAM and speed up the processor for the 2011 iPad. They need to compete.

Originally Posted by solipsism

This is why I love community input! How about just shortening it and calling it a ProtoHype.

Originally Posted by extremeskater

Interesting you should use Phelps in your comment seeing he is no longer the #1 swimmer in the world. Just goes to show that when you are #1 there is only one place to go.

Originally Posted by solipsism

This is why I love community input! How about just shortening it and calling it a ProtoHype.

Originally Posted by manodrum

So the Playbook is supposed to be able to display full 1080p?

Playbook resolution: 1024 x 600

1080p resolution: 1920 x 1080

Am I missing something?

Originally Posted by Hiro

You are missing that one by a mile. It is those ads that made the iPod white earbuds and cord iconic. The ads played off the high contrast making the most important element, the iPod stand out the most. It never needed to be big, actually being small but still the most visible element reinforces the ease of using it. The rest of the ad told the story of how deeply affected the person in the ad was by what was coming out of that iPod.

The iPod was always about the content, not the specs, not the device. That's why the product and marketing were so brilliant and no other player ever got close to making a reasonable competitor. They all thought it was the device, not the story about the content and what you can do with your content and those white earbuds.

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

... If they can make the stars align, we may have a platform that makes Mobile Flash an acceptable performer.

You can decide for yourselves whether that's a good thing or a bad thing

When, how well and how much "questions", still need to be answered -- but this could get interesting.

Originally Posted by extremeskater

Oh I'm just like that with Quadra because he is like a roach when you turn the lights on. He pops in says something stupid and then runs away back to Macrumors where he posts the same BS.

Members like him and Mouse like to cut and paste the one comment they don't like and take it out of context so it looks bad when most of this thread I have talked about how great the iPad is and how I use it daily, not to mention I have said in this thread several times I don't seem RIM touching the iPad.

Originally Posted by Wonder

The iPhone 4 has 16Gb or 32Gb of RAM NOT 512MB.

The PlayBook only has 1GB or on board storage.

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

Dude, you're stretching here These are ads which, IIRC, ran after the iPod itself was introduced and demoed. It wasn't a product introduction.

Originally Posted by samwight

It is far from exactly what Apple does:

1) Apple demoed the product, and gave hands-on access on the same day. RIM didn't even show a live movie of the thing in actual use.

2) Apple gave a price.

3) Apple gave battery life.

4) Apple specified shipping in < 3 months; RIM 3 to 8 months, and considering the absence of a demo, the longer time is more likely.

5) When Apple announced the ipad, there were no other similar tablets in the wild. RIM is announcing a me-too product.

Other than that, exactly the same.

(Apple announced the iphone 6 months before it shipped, but they had to apply for operating permits ahead of time, and that would have let the cat out, and again, it had essentially no competition when it was released, and again, a live demo, price, battery life, and shipping month were given on the day of the announcement.)

Originally Posted by cy_starkman

How are the specs impressive?

They are the standard specs from, what, early this year maybe.

Originally Posted by newbee

Nice reply, too bad it had nothing to do with the post you were replying to. If you follow the "trail" you will see he wanted you to elaborate on your statement that Apple,with regards to using fake videos, "do it all the time". Better luck next time.

Originally Posted by newbee

And we challenge you to back up your claim that Apple use fake videos all the time. .... still waiting. I'll check in tomorrow and see what you come up with.

Originally Posted by extremeskater

We were talking about this last night and I started to read about this further on another site. Which like you found alot of this started to make more sense. Also information about it using QNX and the BlackBerry OS 6 currently found on the new Torch.

What I was also reading which led me to believe this is going to be driven more for corporate use or IT use is its suppose to link to your Blackberry so you can display anything from your BB onto our Playbook without saving the data for security reasons.

So it looks like the only real way to take full advantage of what this Playbook has to offer is to also own a BB. Which is kind of interesting on some level BB going that way because that is what Apple does, tries to get you to buy into their entire ecosystem.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

Oh good grief. That's just the point. Iconic is not even remotely the same as talking about or demonstrating the product's features. You (and others) have apparently missed that none of Apple's product ads are about specs. Those iPod ads in particular, tell you nothing whatsoever about how the product works. They are all about communicating music and fun. As much as anything else, they market lifestyle. It's a mystery to me how anyone can object even slightly when RIM tries to do the same thing. FWIW, I doubt they'll be able do it nearly as well as Apple, but I can't get angry at them for trying.

Originally Posted by digitalclips

The Apple ad was an invitation to the October launch of the actual product. It was a finished product by then. The 'ad' as you call it for the RIM device seem to be somewhat less than that to me. Is the actual final product there, even as a silhouette as it is in the apple invitation ad? The Apple ad, remember was done as a 'tease' so Apple could actually show the real thing live.

It's one thing to tease with a product and another to simply create an illusion of one. However, reading back through all the posts in this thread you seem to have an axe to grind but I can't figure what it is, so I doubt you will agree with anything I say.

Originally Posted by extremeskater

Well based on the specs it seems like a fairly decent device. Dual core is certainly nice as is 1080P playback. Not sure what battery life is going to be which will be a factor.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

A what??? Yeah, I guess if you take that attitude, you've stopped listening.

Originally Posted by anonymouse

A very big if. Frankly, I don't think this particular tablet is going to be a big success. I think, at most, it will achieve niche status with some hardcore Blackberry shops, who want everything RIM. (The kind of mentality that until recently, when it became impossible, wanted to buy everything from IBM.) Unfortunately, I think RIM is kind of in the same boat as Nokia, adrift, without navigational aids.

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

Dual core A9 and 1 GB RAM caught my eye -- though it seems overkill for a smaller screen.

.

Originally Posted by digitalclips

I think I see why you are not on the same page as most here ... you are seeing the PlayBook 'ad' as just another ad. We are seeing it as an attempt at a product introduction in other words a big deal. As I explained earlier your analogy with the iPod as doesn't wash for me since that was a tease about a real product - Apple just wanted to keep the real thing for a live unveiling. The PlayBook ad was obviously more than that. Look at the length and lack of a product. It was an attempt at winning over mind share and to keep shareholder's hopes alive in RIM. You may end up being correct and it is just a genuine ad for a product and next week RIM may show the actual product or at least a silhouette held by a dancer

Originally Posted by Wonder

The iPhone 4 has 16Gb or 32Gb of RAM NOT 512MB.

The PlayBook only has 1GB or on board storage.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

Yup, if you understand it as just an ad, doing the things ads always try to do, you will be able to stay in your shoes. Others have made the same observation as I have, but haven't stuck around to defend them. FWIW, I have a feeling that RIM will follow up this tease with a more substantial introduction. Do you think otherwise? If so, why? Personally, I don't think RIM is going to completely squander their reputation by failing to introduce the product, something very like the one they've teased about. That's the implication I've heard expressed several times in this thread. I've challenged this implication several times, and had zero response to my question about how someone could apparently believe that RIM is a very stupid company. I've seen no evidence of this, so I'm genuinely curious.

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

You, likely, are right about sales numbers -- except if RIM can stem the erosion of its core business, then it has to be a resounding success!

Originally Posted by chronster

What I thought of when I saw playbook wasn't some book to play with, but rather a useful tool much like that of a playbook a football coach would use. Playbook can be equated to what the plan for the business day would be, or what the plan to achieve certain goals is. Know what I mean?

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

I don't have to back up a claim I never made. Read back, this will be clear since it was stated in plain language.

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

You don't have to be a stupid company to do stupid things...


... like hold a special event to introduce an iPod-HiFi and a leather iPod case (less than a year before the iPhone announcement).

.

Originally Posted by newbee

Since you seem to be a fan of "plain language" .... this should help even you.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

Yup, if you understand it as just an ad, doing the things ads always try to do, you will be able to stay in your shoes. Others have made the same observation as I have, but haven't stuck around to defend them. FWIW, I have a feeling that RIM will follow up this tease with a more substantial introduction. Do you think otherwise? If so, why? Personally, I don't think RIM is going to completely squander their reputation by failing to introduce the product, something very like the one they've teased about. That's the implication I've heard expressed several times in this thread. I've challenged this implication several times, and had zero response to my question about how someone could apparently believe that RIM is a very stupid company. I've seen no evidence of this, so I'm genuinely curious.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

Yup, if you understand it as just an ad, doing the things ads always try to do, you will be able to stay in your shoes. Others have made the same observation as I have, but haven't stuck around to defend them. FWIW, I have a feeling that RIM will follow up this tease with a more substantial introduction. Do you think otherwise? If so, why? Personally, I don't think RIM is going to completely squander their reputation by failing to introduce the product, something very like the one they've teased about. That's the implication I've heard expressed several times in this thread. I've challenged this implication several times, and had zero response to my question about how someone could apparently believe that RIM is a very stupid company. I've seen no evidence of this, so I'm genuinely curious.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

You mean, like Apple announcing the iPad in January and not shipping until April? I read "early 2011" as possibly being little more than three months away.