Briefly: RIM defends PlayBook, It Gets Better employee video, white iPhone 4
Research in Motion executives spoke out in defense of the BlackBerry PlayBook, calling it "superior," while Apple employees from the LGBT community have posted a video for the It Gets Better project. Finally, Apple has again confirmed that the white iPhone 4 will launch this spring.
PlayBook
Speaking to Bloomberg, RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis took issue with initial reviews of the 7-inch tablet that criticized the device as unfinished and having been rushed to market.
?I don?t think that?s fair,? said Balsillie in a television interview. Balsillie disagreed with reviewers, who had specifically drawn attention to the lack of native email and calendar applications on the PlayBook, and pointed out the 60 million BlackBerry smartphone users who can access their email on the tablet via BlackBerry Bridging functionality.
?A lot of the people that want this want a secure and free extension of their BlackBerry,? he added.
Balsillie remained optimistic about projected sales of the PlayBook, which goes on sale in Canada and the U.S. on Apr. 19. ?I like our chances for a lot of share,? he said. ?We?re very excited about where we are.?
Investors reacted negatively to the critical reviews of the PlayBook, which were posted late Wednesday. Shares of RIM were down 1.66 percent at the close of market on Thursday.
Lazaridis defended the company's decision to go with a 7-inch form factor, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs has openly criticized. ?This is superior,? he said. ?It?s far more portable, it?s lighter in your hands, you can hold it for longer.?
It Gets Better
As part of the It Gets Better campaign to end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth, employees at Apple have created a video with their stories about coming out and overcoming adversity, offering a rare glimpse into the personal lives of employees of the notoriously secretive company.
In recent years, Apple has been rated as the top "gay-friendly" tech company, according to one survey.
In 2008, the company made a rare political statement by donating $100,000 to the campaign opposing Proposition 8, a California measure that sought to ban gay marriage.
"Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees? same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person?s fundamental rights ? including the right to marry ? should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8," the company said in a statement announcing the donation.
In January, a controversial report by Valleywag outed Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook as "the most powerful gay person in tech."
White iPhone 4
Apple on Thursday confirmed reports that the white version of the iPhone 4 will be arriving this spring, as noted by the The Wall Street Journal. After repeated delays, the Cupertino, Calif., iPhone maker indicated last October that the device would be delayed until spring 2011.
AppleInsider reported in March that Apple remained on track to ship the white iPhone 4 by the end of April. Shortly after, Apple VP Phil Schiller reiterated the company's plan for a spring release of the device.
On Wednesday, both Bloomberg and Reuters corroborated the April timeline for the device, citing people familiar with the situation.
PlayBook
Speaking to Bloomberg, RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis took issue with initial reviews of the 7-inch tablet that criticized the device as unfinished and having been rushed to market.
?I don?t think that?s fair,? said Balsillie in a television interview. Balsillie disagreed with reviewers, who had specifically drawn attention to the lack of native email and calendar applications on the PlayBook, and pointed out the 60 million BlackBerry smartphone users who can access their email on the tablet via BlackBerry Bridging functionality.
?A lot of the people that want this want a secure and free extension of their BlackBerry,? he added.
Balsillie remained optimistic about projected sales of the PlayBook, which goes on sale in Canada and the U.S. on Apr. 19. ?I like our chances for a lot of share,? he said. ?We?re very excited about where we are.?
Investors reacted negatively to the critical reviews of the PlayBook, which were posted late Wednesday. Shares of RIM were down 1.66 percent at the close of market on Thursday.
Lazaridis defended the company's decision to go with a 7-inch form factor, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs has openly criticized. ?This is superior,? he said. ?It?s far more portable, it?s lighter in your hands, you can hold it for longer.?
It Gets Better
As part of the It Gets Better campaign to end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth, employees at Apple have created a video with their stories about coming out and overcoming adversity, offering a rare glimpse into the personal lives of employees of the notoriously secretive company.
In recent years, Apple has been rated as the top "gay-friendly" tech company, according to one survey.
In 2008, the company made a rare political statement by donating $100,000 to the campaign opposing Proposition 8, a California measure that sought to ban gay marriage.
"Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees? same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person?s fundamental rights ? including the right to marry ? should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8," the company said in a statement announcing the donation.
In January, a controversial report by Valleywag outed Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook as "the most powerful gay person in tech."
White iPhone 4
Apple on Thursday confirmed reports that the white version of the iPhone 4 will be arriving this spring, as noted by the The Wall Street Journal. After repeated delays, the Cupertino, Calif., iPhone maker indicated last October that the device would be delayed until spring 2011.
AppleInsider reported in March that Apple remained on track to ship the white iPhone 4 by the end of April. Shortly after, Apple VP Phil Schiller reiterated the company's plan for a spring release of the device.
On Wednesday, both Bloomberg and Reuters corroborated the April timeline for the device, citing people familiar with the situation.
Comments
Actually, it's RIM that needs to post a "It Gets Better" video. That's what I thought the headline said when I first read it.
You pipped me. That is what I was going to say.
Yay to Apple and their employees.
Especially the sexy bears.
That's a beautiful, moving video.
Yay to Apple and their employees.
Especially the sexy bears.
iBears.
You pipped me. That is what I was going to say.
It was all too easy, wasn't it.
That's a beautiful, moving video.
Yay to Apple and their employees.
Especially the sexy bears.
iBears.
At RIM, PlayBears.
?A lot of the people that want this want a secure and free extension of their BlackBerry,? he added.
The problem is, not a lot of people want it..
Okay, maybe not now, but when words spread out that it isn't as good as advertised.
Actually, it's RIM that needs to post a "It Gets Better" video. That's what I thought the headline said when I first read it.
I also thought RIM is producing white iPhone 4.. I was like "WTF" for a couple of second..
me neither.
Did they really intentionally limit their market to only people with a blackberry, but no iPad?
I also thought RIM is producing white iPhone 4.. I was like "WTF" for a couple of second..
I don’t mind these Neapolitan articles but I wish they would use a semicolon in the title to make a clearer distinction between them. Also, I wish they wouldn’t add Updates to some seemingly random place in the article.
Did they really intentionally limit their market to only people with a blackberry, but no iPad?
yep.
They haven't really created a tablet but rather a tablet sized add on screen to a blackberry. chances are that few folks really want that particular tech, especially compared to those that would want a stand alone device
And RIM's slow slide into irrelevancy seems to be driving them mad, so you get unhinged on top of gibberish, which is like a strawberry sundae of crazy!
Did they really intentionally limit their market to only people with a blackberry, but no iPad?
That is what really baffle us all, along with analysts, that RIM is tying up its PlayBook with BlackBerry handset if the user want to access emails, calendars, and other stuff. Maybe they want to boost up the declining BlackBerry handsets sale.
But that's like tying up to a sinking ship..
I don?t mean these Neapolitan articles but I wish they would use a semicolon in the title to make a clearer distinction between them. Also, I wish they wouldn?t add Updates to some seemingly random place in the article.
Agree. Does AI read any of these posts in their own forum..?
"A lot of the people that want this want a secure and free extension of their BlackBerry,? [Ball Silly] added.
And just how is the Playbook a free extension of anything? Do these siamese twins suck on Cepacol lozenges before they start speaking in tongues?
Speaking to Bloomberg, RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis took issue with initial reviews of the 7-inch tablet that criticized the device as unfinished and having been rushed to market.
“I don’t think that’s fair,” said Balsillie in a television interview. Balsillie disagreed with reviewers, who had specifically drawn attention to the lack of native email and calendar applications on the PlayBook, and pointed out the 60 million BlackBerry smartphone users who can access their email on the tablet via BlackBerry Bridging functionality.
Sorry Jim, but you don't get to decide whats fair. Customers do.
Also, lets think about the addressable market for the Playbook. RIM suggests that the addressable market is 60 million people because there are 60 million bberry users. So by comparison, that would mean the addressable market for other tablets is what... 3 billion? Pretty much anybody who is old enough could potentially buy an iPad. But only people with a bberry could buy a Playbook.
What an amazing strategy. They intentially built a device that only 60 million people could buy while their competitors are building devices that ANYBODY can buy. Yeah, Playbook is going to be really successful.
The problem is, not a lot of people want it..
Okay, maybe not now, but when words spread out that it isn't as good as advertised.
I finally got my iPad 2 today and i love it. I'm sitting in front of my 27" iMac and typing all my emails on my iPad instead.
When I think that the playbook has less than half the screen of the iPad 2 it really makes me think, what's the point?
The only thing I wish is that more people would get with the program and get rid of flash already!
They should've created the email app even if that's just a link to the web browser's page (gmail, yahoo mail, etc), since it can run Flash the 'client' should at least be usable.