RIM's iPad-competing BlackBerry PlayBook will launch for $499 on April 19
Research in Motion on Tuesday announced the details for the launch of its BlackBerry PlayBook 7-inch touchscreen tablet, set to arrive on April 19 for a $499 starting price that matches Apple's iPad.
The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available starting in a 16GB capacity for $499, the same as the Wi-Fi-only iPad. However, the PlayBook will sport a smaller 7-inch touchscreen display, compared to the 9.7-inch screen found on the iPad.
The remaining PlayBook prices will also match Apple's pricing for the Wi-Fi-only iPad lineup, at $599 for 32GB of storage, and $699 for 64GB. The device will be available at all Best Buy stores in the U.S. and Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada on April 19.
As "preferred retailers," both companies will begin accepting preorders for the PlayBook starting Tuesday.
Additional retail outlets in the U.S. will include AT&T, Office Depot, RadioShack, Staples, Sprint and Verizon. In all, the PlayBook will be available in over 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada at launch.
"The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet that is already being widely praised as a multi-tasking powerhouse with an uncompromised web experience and an ultra-portable design," said Mike Lazaridis, president & co-CEO of RIM. "Given the high level of customer interest in the BlackBerry PlayBook, we are particularly pleased to be working with such an amazing lineup of retail partners."
Official specifications for the RIM PlayBook are:
7" 1024x600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen
Ultra-portable at less than a pound and less than one-half inch thick: 0.9 lbs (425g) and 5.1? x 7.6? x 0.4? (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
1 GHz dual-core processor
BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback
Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)
1080p HDMI output
Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture (3MP front and 5MP rear)
1 GB RAM memory
Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)
GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)
Stereo speakers and stereo microphones
Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support
The PlayBook and tablets like it were called out by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs last year, when he slammed devices with a 7-inch screen as inadequate for most users. Jobs even quipped that makers of tablets with smaller form factors would need to ship sandpaper with their devices, so users could file down their fingers to the point where they could hit smaller targets on the screen.
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie quickly fired back at Jobs, and said he believes customers are "getting tired of what to be told to think by Apple." He also said any issues with a 7-inch tablet display only exist inside of "Apple's distortion field."
The smaller display of the PlayBook does allow it to be even lighter than the newly released iPad 2. And RIM's tablet also has higher-quality dual cameras and twice the RAM of the iPad 2.
RIM is pitching the PlayBook as the "world's first professional-grade tablet." Its debut will come more than a month after Apple's iPad 2 went on sale and faced overwhelming demand, with many users still waiting to get their hands on the device. The international launch of the iPad 2 will go on as planned on March 25.
The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available starting in a 16GB capacity for $499, the same as the Wi-Fi-only iPad. However, the PlayBook will sport a smaller 7-inch touchscreen display, compared to the 9.7-inch screen found on the iPad.
The remaining PlayBook prices will also match Apple's pricing for the Wi-Fi-only iPad lineup, at $599 for 32GB of storage, and $699 for 64GB. The device will be available at all Best Buy stores in the U.S. and Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada on April 19.
As "preferred retailers," both companies will begin accepting preorders for the PlayBook starting Tuesday.
Additional retail outlets in the U.S. will include AT&T, Office Depot, RadioShack, Staples, Sprint and Verizon. In all, the PlayBook will be available in over 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada at launch.
"The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet that is already being widely praised as a multi-tasking powerhouse with an uncompromised web experience and an ultra-portable design," said Mike Lazaridis, president & co-CEO of RIM. "Given the high level of customer interest in the BlackBerry PlayBook, we are particularly pleased to be working with such an amazing lineup of retail partners."
Official specifications for the RIM PlayBook are:
7" 1024x600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen
Ultra-portable at less than a pound and less than one-half inch thick: 0.9 lbs (425g) and 5.1? x 7.6? x 0.4? (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
1 GHz dual-core processor
BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback
Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)
1080p HDMI output
Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture (3MP front and 5MP rear)
1 GB RAM memory
Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)
GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)
Stereo speakers and stereo microphones
Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support
The PlayBook and tablets like it were called out by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs last year, when he slammed devices with a 7-inch screen as inadequate for most users. Jobs even quipped that makers of tablets with smaller form factors would need to ship sandpaper with their devices, so users could file down their fingers to the point where they could hit smaller targets on the screen.
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie quickly fired back at Jobs, and said he believes customers are "getting tired of what to be told to think by Apple." He also said any issues with a 7-inch tablet display only exist inside of "Apple's distortion field."
The smaller display of the PlayBook does allow it to be even lighter than the newly released iPad 2. And RIM's tablet also has higher-quality dual cameras and twice the RAM of the iPad 2.
RIM is pitching the PlayBook as the "world's first professional-grade tablet." Its debut will come more than a month after Apple's iPad 2 went on sale and faced overwhelming demand, with many users still waiting to get their hands on the device. The international launch of the iPad 2 will go on as planned on March 25.
Comments
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And this tablet has to be tethered to a blackberry phone?
Maybe a few business users will buy it, but that's about it.
In a few weeks time, we'll be hearing about another iPad Killer. There's close to 100 of them coming this year.
Oh Noes! Another iPad killer!
And this tablet has to be tethered to a blackberry phone?
Maybe a few business users will buy it, but that's about it.
In a few weeks time, we'll be hearing about another iPad Killer. There's close to 100 of them coming this year.
More like iPad suicide bombers
It's win win.
Competition drives innovation and choice is a good thing.
Of course, the battery drain from this kind of intensive processing is likely to be catastrophic. All the samples at the show were plugged into the power so we were unable to test battery performance.
I like the way tech radar stuck a link in my quote down here thanks to their javascript crap in my copied text. I hate websites that do that. I think this above quote is a good point, but I'll never quote this website again. I think websites that do this are basically so insecure about the quality of their own content that they have to "force" you to revisit their site. The mere act of doing this automatically brings down the quality of the website.
... Competition drives innovation ...
No it doesn't. At most, competition may, but doesn't necessarily, drive improvement. (Sometimes, it drives the opposite -- the race to the bottom.) By definition it can't drive innovation, since something new has no competition.
Oh Noes! Another iPad killer!
And this tablet has to be tethered to a blackberry phone?
Maybe a few business users will buy it, but that's about it.
In a few weeks time, we'll be hearing about another iPad Killer. There's close to 100 of them coming this year.
Quit being so defensive.
My bet is RIM discontinues the Playbook after six months on the market. No one is going to buy these things when they can get a bigger and better tablet in the iPad.
Quit being so defensive.
It's called mocking.
I think RIM may be to the iPad what SanDisk was to the iPod... never cracking the top spot but a distant-yet-strong second.
Quit being so defensive.
Defensive?
Welcome to the Fail Boat. I have a cell phone. This thing has a seven inch screen...a couple of inches bigger than my cell phone. It has a smaller screen than the iPad yet costs just as much. It has no apps. It has a primitive OS. It has a far worse battery life. It has no iTunes.
My bet is RIM discontinues the Playbook after six months on the market. No one is going to buy these things when they can get a bigger and better tablet in the iPad.
Agree with this. In addition, now that Verizon has the iPhone, you will see lots of business Blackberry users convert, resulting in an even further slide for RIM's smartphone market share. Once they lose Blackberry support as consumers go to other alternatives, this Playbook might as well have been vaporware.
Of course, they also lost the launch window advantage as well. With Apple having supply issues to keep up with demand, now would be the time to have an alternative sitting on the shelf. By April 19th, the crisis will be over and RIM's Playbook will collect dust on the shelf.
That said, I suppose the people who just have to have a Blackberry will buy one, but that's a small and shrinking demographic. Plus, they'll be bitching about the lack of a hardware keyboard. Can't see huge lines for this...
As for tethering, I keep seeing advice that folks should go for the WiFi-only iPad because they can use their iPhone for tethering (and GPS when tethered)... isn't that basically the same thing?
It's not exactly the same thing. Many people who opt for the Wifi only iPad will be using them at home a lot or in a location that has Wifi. This blackberry tablet is small, it's 7", it's meant to be portable and people will most likely be walking around with both their blackberry phone and the blackberry tablet.
As I previously wrote, I think that the blackberry tablet might appeal to some business types who already have blackberry phones. They are already RIM customers. The average consumer will be buying the much larger and more mainstream iPad.
Android appstore is a mess. I have an Android cellphone as my primary phone and their interface fits the phone companies dreams (or their customers nightmares lol)
As a programmer, I have my prejudices, but anything is preferable to the Droid Army. Subpar code, subpar programs, subpar walled-garden, subpar interface. Everything is wrong with it. It's a worthless open interface and a bad controlled environment.
I hope iPhone goes multi-carrier, more than just AT&Tmobile and VZW. We need some consumer beneficial competition up in here!
I'm sorry, people are going to expect a tablet with 43.6% of the screen area of the iPad to be cheaper..
But, But...
It has 1GB RAM and better cameras and it may one day run Flash: