RIM denies PlayBook tablet battery issues, promises "superior performance"
In response to one Wall Street's analyst assertion that the upcoming PlayBook tablet was experiencing battery issues, Research In Motion responded with a statement denying the claim and promising "superior performance with comparable battery life."
On Tuesday, analyst Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. sent a note to investors voicing concerns over the unreleased 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's battery life after checks with "industry and supply chain sources." In the note, Wu suggested that he had "heard" that the PlayBook's battery life was just "a few hours" and would require a "a bit of re-engineering."
The PlayBook is slated for a first quarter 2011 release, though RIM has not projected any revenue from the PlayBook tablet for its next fiscal quarter, which ends next fiscal quarterFeb. 26 with a price tag below $500.
RIM released its statement denying Wu's claims late Wednesday, Forbes reports.
?Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read. "RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook?s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.?
RIM's statement fails to specify what exactly the PlayBook will be comparable with, but Wu's note compared the tablet to the Samsung Galaxy Tab's 6 hours of battery life and the Apple iPad's 10 hours of battery.
That RIM continues to assert that the PlayBook's performance will be "superior" should come as no surprise, as RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently touted the PlayBook as "way ahead" of the iPad.
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
On Tuesday, analyst Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. sent a note to investors voicing concerns over the unreleased 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's battery life after checks with "industry and supply chain sources." In the note, Wu suggested that he had "heard" that the PlayBook's battery life was just "a few hours" and would require a "a bit of re-engineering."
The PlayBook is slated for a first quarter 2011 release, though RIM has not projected any revenue from the PlayBook tablet for its next fiscal quarter, which ends next fiscal quarterFeb. 26 with a price tag below $500.
RIM released its statement denying Wu's claims late Wednesday, Forbes reports.
?Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read. "RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook?s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.?
RIM's statement fails to specify what exactly the PlayBook will be comparable with, but Wu's note compared the tablet to the Samsung Galaxy Tab's 6 hours of battery life and the Apple iPad's 10 hours of battery.
That RIM continues to assert that the PlayBook's performance will be "superior" should come as no surprise, as RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently touted the PlayBook as "way ahead" of the iPad.
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
Comments
In response to one Wall Street's analyst assertion that the upcoming PlayBook tablet was experiencing battery issues, Research In Motion responded with a statement denying the claim and promising "superior performance with comparable battery life."
On Tuesday, analyst Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. sent a note to investors voicing concerns over the unreleased 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's battery life after checks with "industry and supply chain sources." In the note, Wu suggested that he had "heard" that the PlayBook's battery life was just "a few hours" and would require a "a bit of re-engineering."
The PlayBook is slated for a first quarter 2011 release, though RIM has not projected any revenue from the PlayBook tablet for its next fiscal quarter, which ends next fiscal quarterFeb. 26 with a price tag below $500.
RIM released its statement denying Wu's claims late Wednesday, Forbes reports.
“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read. "RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”
RIM's statement fails to specify what exactly the PlayBook will be comparable with, but Wu's note compared the tablet to the Samsung Galaxy Tab's 6 hours of battery life and the Apple iPad's 10 hours of battery.
That RIM continues to assert that the PlayBook's performance will be "superior" should come as no surprise, as RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently touted the PlayBook as "way ahead" of the iPad.
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Even if it's superior performance with comparable battery life to the current iPad, which I doubt, the new iPad will have been out long before the PlayBook, and RIM will once again be playing catch up.
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
He smokes too much.
?Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read.
I was told QNX has power management built in, so why would this be absent?
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
Considering most apps access the web and there a lot more than a WebKit browser app on the PlayBook, he?s either not getting it or playing a very weak trick.
Even if it's superior performance with comparable battery life to the current iPad, which I doubt, the new iPad will have been out long before the PlayBook, and RIM will once again be playing catch up.
So far, RiM has been touting superior performance from a spec list PoV, but we?ll see how that translates into real world usage. If this thing takes a minute to boot, has long waits between app launchings and jerky transitions the way WebOS did when first released that?s not going to bode well for RiM.
Also note that Jobs stated in the last special event with the MBAs that they are using even stricter tests for the battery. I have to wonder if they are going to push that even further when they are already so far ahead of the game on this measure, does this mean that they?ve made some breakthroughs in HW and SW power management that will blow us away at the next event?
Is RIM becoming the Venezuela of the mobile technology industry ...?
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently touted the PlayBook as "way ahead" of the iPad.
Please explain me how something that is not even available can be "way ahead" of an almost one year old product ?
The demo video already available looks really great : you don't need to embarrass yourself with groundless unverifiable statement until the actual product is available to customers.
Please explain me how something that is not even available can be "way ahead" of an almost one year old product ?
The demo video already available looks really great : you don't need to embarrass yourself with groundless unverifiable statement until the actual product is available to customers.
In all fairness Jobs said the iPhone was 5 years ahead of the competition, and that was 6 months before it was even released to the world. Of course, history proved once again that he was right.
RiM is focusing on raw specs to say it?s superior, but I can?t recall Jobs or anyone at Apple touting the original iPhone as having some crazy fast CPU or copious amounts of RAM. I seem to recall demos that specifically show the smoothness and speed from the end user?s PoV. RiM seem to have very different ideas of what is impressive.
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
By WEB, do you mean HTML ? or HTTP ? or even TCP/IP ?
Cause 99.99% of apps are using TCP/IP and most of them are using HTTP to exchange data.
So apps are the web.
Hey, do you know iTunes is using HTML for its display layer ? So does that make it part of "the web" ?
In response to one Wall Street's analyst assertion that the upcoming PlayBook tablet was experiencing battery issues, Research In Motion responded with a statement denying the claim and promising "superior performance with comparable battery life."
So, if ONE analyst asserts something about a competing product, it's taken by AI and the Apple community as pure fact. But if an analyst says something negative about an Apple product, AI will go all out to disparage that analyst and just gloss over what that analyst might have said...I'm pretty sure at this point, AI runs it's original stories through Apple's PR department for approval before posting them...
For a community that is the #1 leader in the tablet area right now, why do we constantly feel the need to try and take shots at competitors? I don't walk around shoving my iPad in people's faces to show it off and this constant bashing of competitors is getting a little tiring. I for one, hope the Play Book is every bit as good as the iPad...Not that there is a good chance of that but I want a real competitor out there so Apple is forced to look ahead, and move ahead instead of sitting on it's ass until some real competition does catch up....
In all fairness Jobs said the iPhone was 5 years ahead of the competition, and that was 6 months before it was even released to the world. Of course, history proved once again that he was right.
RiM is focusing on raw specs to say it?s superior, but I can?t recall Jobs or anyone at Apple touting the original iPhone as having some crazy fast CPU or copious amounts of RAM. I seem to recall demos that specifically show the smoothness and speed from the end user?s PoV. RiM seem to have very different ideas of what is impressive.
At this juncture, any claim that keeps the PlayBook in the news is enough for RIM.
So, if ONE analyst asserts something about a competing product, it's taken by AI and the Apple community as pure fact. But if an analyst says something negative about an Apple product, AI will go all out to disparage that analyst and just gloss over what that analyst might have said...I'm pretty sure at this point, AI runs it's original stories through Apple's PR department for approval before posting them...
For a community that is the #1 leader in the tablet area right now, why do we constantly feel the need to try and take shots at competitors? I don't walk around shoving my iPad in people's faces to show it off and this constant bashing of competitors is getting a little tiring. I for one, hope the Play Book is every bit as good as the iPad...Not that there is a good chance of that but I want a real competitor out there so Apple is forced to look ahead, and move ahead instead of sitting on it's ass until some real competition does catch up....
You might have missed the name of this forum: APPLE Insider.
Don't get me wrong, I want there to be solid and decent iPad competitors because tablets do have an important role to play.
But I'm losing a lot of faith in RIM. I sense more and more phailure coming on.
...[RIM] looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet .....
I know a car company not too far away from Waterloo, Ontario whose slogan used to be: "We're professional grade."
At this juncture, any claim that keeps the PlayBook in the news is enough for RIM.
The desperation is showing!
In all fairness Jobs said the iPhone was 5 years ahead of the competition, and that was 6 months before it was even released to the world.
It was the presentation of a (near-) complete product. I didn't see RIM's as being in the same league.
As in they are not getting the required battery life yet.
It was all very carefully worded to not actually say or commit to anything.
“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read. "RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”
The key words are are "looks forward to providing".
As in they are not getting the required battery life yet.
It was all very carefully worded to not actually say or commit to anything.
It's totally obvious spin, who the heck would have given out supposedly "pre-beta" units with totally no power management implemented?
At least balls-up and say, power management has not yet been refined or completed, to say that it doesn't have any power management is, and I hate to use this term... retarded.
So, if ONE analyst asserts something about a competing product, it's taken by AI and the Apple community as pure fact. But if an analyst says something negative about an Apple product, AI will go all out to disparage that analyst and just gloss over what that analyst might have said...I'm pretty sure at this point, AI runs it's original stories through Apple's PR department for approval before posting them...
For a community that is the #1 leader in the tablet area right now, why do we constantly feel the need to try and take shots at competitors? I don't walk around shoving my iPad in people's faces to show it off and this constant bashing of competitors is getting a little tiring. I for one, hope the Play Book is every bit as good as the iPad...Not that there is a good chance of that but I want a real competitor out there so Apple is forced to look ahead, and move ahead instead of sitting on it's ass until some real competition does catch up....
Well Apple is definitely the last company to accuse as to be sitting on it's ass. SJ and his crew have proven to be one of the very few companies who are creative and innovative without even the slightest bit of competition (see introduction of iPad, iPod, iPhone, magic Trackpad, to name just a few innovative products)
“pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented,"
Power management hasn't been designed, much less implemented.
To better obfuscate reality, a better line would have been:
“pre-beta units were built without power management enabled,"
"RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life"
we thought the user would leave it plugged in all day because we haven't given it the slightest thought.
"...looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”
"professional grade tablet" - please don't judge us harshly against the iPad.
"superior performance" - we have dual cores, hdmi and flash! Take that iPad!!
Which of the co-CEOs wrote this dreck up; Lizard or Ballsack?