Blackberry’s stock tumbled more than 25 percent after the smartphone maker, which is struggling to compete with Apple’s iPhone and...
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The BlackBerry smartphone was really the device that made smartphones popular. In that context, it’s hard not to root for...
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According to Ryan Block over at gdgt, Amazon’s new tablet set to be announced this Wednesday is in fact built by the same people who built the RIM PlayBook. How is that the case you ask? According to Block’s sources, RIM originally outsourced a substantial amount of the hardware design and production of the PlayBook to Quanta, which is a company that builds, and sometimes helps design, hardware for name brands.
And when Amazon decided to do an Android tablet, the team at Amazon known as called Lab 126 (the Kindle team) apparently chose not to take on the project and focus their efforts on working exclusively on next-gen E-Ink-based devices. This left Amazon’s executive team without an experienced team to build the device. So what did they do? Amazon turned to Quanta.
This afternoon I read a post from Wired that discussed the BlackBerry PlayBook, RIM’s first ever tablet, and the fact that Sprint recently turned down the opportunity to strike a deal with Resources In Motion to produce and sell a 4G version of the tablet. Now, with the amount of competition in the tablet industry right now I am always giving companies a critical eye when judging the direction they take tablets. But even I felt that Christina Bonnington, a writer with Wired, took things a bit too far when she started her article off by saying that “RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet just can’t catch a break.” Sure, the general point of her post was to convey the point that Sprint announced that they wouldn’t be selling a 4G version of the tablet, but beyond that I think this whole situation has been blown out of proportion.
Admittedly I myself am somewhat disappointed that the PlayBook isn’t going to see the glory of direct 4G connectivity anytime soon, as this was one of the things I personally was rather excited about when I discussed the PlayBook’s potential towards the beginning of the year. But the more that I think about it, the nature of the PlayBook means that 4G (or even 3G or any other type of carrier-based network connection) really isn’t a huge deal and quite honestly doesn’t seem like something the PlayBook needs in order to gain traction with consumers.
It’s no secret that mobile communication devices (tablets in general) are the “in” thing in the tech industry right now. After releasing the first generation iPad last year, Apple grandfathered an entirely revolutionary and previously unheard of market; one that many didn’t think would go far at all. But here we are now, just a tad more than a year later, and the struggle on the part of retail stores to maintain stock on the second generation iPad speaks for itself in terms of the tablet computer’s popularity and overall success with consumers as a whole. And with the outstanding success of the iPad product line, the last year has brought way to a number of other companies rolling out their own tablet computers in moves quite obviously devised to take a stab at Apple’s stronghold in this promising market.
One of the companies that has been working to anchor into the tablet industry has been Resources In Motion; the company that is best-known for producing and developing the BlackBerry smartphone line. After previously discussing the PlayBook in January I more recently looked at the viability of RIM‘s tablet computer in a critical light, questioning if users would be willing to give the device a go despite the fact that it wasn’t priced any lower than the already established Apple iPad.
A little more than a year ago when Steve Jobs first unveiled the Apple iPad many saw the device as revolutionary; not only in terms of grandfathering the tablet industry with previously unheard of features, but in terms of the price as well. With baseline models starting at just $499 (16GB, WiFi), the iPad was definitely competitively priced; especially for an Apple product. The iPad’s price-point, in my opinion, is one of the reasons that the iPad came to be as successful as it was. Now that the second-generation iPad has hit the open market sporting more features than one could have previously imagined, the iPad’s pricing scheme is more competitive than ever.
With that in mind, pricing is one of the biggest aspects in making another tablet product competitive on the mobile market. Because let’s face it; with the current state of our economy, people sometimes often evaluate price more than the quality or feature behind a product. Recently, Research in Motion (RIM) formally announced the pricing structure for the BlackBerry Playbook; a device that hypothetically speaking could take the once-prestige mobile giant in a whole new (and profitable) direction.
For years now, Research In Motion (RIM) has developed the BlackBerry smartphone OS and product line. While newer and more “modern” products have by no doubt taken away from the BlackBerry’s success, the fact of the matter is that RIM is still going strong. This is because – among other things – the BlackBerry is seen as a professional device and because of the products dependable history and ability to conform to strict corporate policies it is seen as the choice for businesses and professionals who have yet to be swayed to devices such as the Apple iPhone or the new Android-based smartphones that are flooding the market. However, despite RIM’s ability to hold a grasp on the “smartphone” market, the company has only recently become involved in the new and promising tablet market.
The up and coming BlackBerry PlayBook should, however, change that. For those of you who don’t know, the PlayBook will be a 7″ tablet computer (closer to the size of an Amazon Kindle than an Apple iPad) sporting a 1GHz processor and BlackBerry’s legendary backbone. What makes the PlayBook a unique contender in a market that seems to be getting more and more saturated as days go by is the fact that it will integrate with the BlackBerry smartphone, allowing for the PlayBook to take advantage of the existing smartphone infrastructure; including documents, calendars, email, and the mobile data connection.
