RIM Sets Competitive Price for its PlayBook tablet

[Maura]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaez_4m9mQ[/ame]​

Of all the many so-called “iPad Killers†that have been touted in recent months, BlackBerry manufacturer RIM probably has the greatest chance of actually giving the iPad a decent run for its money with its recently announced PlayBook tablet. The loyal BlackBerry fanbase will be eager to get their hands on it, and the BlackBerry name carries a lot of weight in terms of the cache of actually owning the particular object of desire. Steve Jobs has recently said that a 7-inch screen, such as the PlayBook's, is actually too small for a tablet, so it will be very interesting to see if he's proved right. And the tablet wars just got a little more intense today, with Reuters reporting that RIM has just announced that it will be selling the PlayBook for under $500. The news gave a big boost to RIM’s shares this Wednesday, as they leapt 6 percent to their highest level since June of this year.
RIM says that it intends to launch the PlayBook in the US in the first quarter of 2011, and worldwide in the second quarter.

Source: Reuters

 

[texaslonghorn]

I think this is great news for the iPad. First, if you have had a chance to play with the 7" form factor, it just really doesn't work. Too small for real work, too large to be a phone/pure texting device. Second, it puts a bit of pressure on Steve to step up some of the missing iPad functionality - like Flash (which RIM is really really hyping). We should all hope for some level of success of this device - otherwise, if it fails, Steve won't be so motivated to bring improvements to our beloved iPad.

 

[Yakuzagang5]

I love how everyone says this is a competitive price, the Galaxy tab is smaller, and has maybe 10 apps dedicated to it, and is more expensive than the iPad (Base Models), and the same with PlayBook. Smaller, with much less apps, starting at same price. How is a 3" smaller tablet costing the same price better?

 

[iVan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaez_4m9mQ​

RIM says that it intends to launch the PlayBook in the US in the first quarter of 2011, and worldwide in the second quarter.

Source: Reuters

RIM is a Canadian company and we Canadians will have to wait for the second quarter?

 

[gentlefury]

Hmmm, maybe they should show more than fabricated vaporware demos before talking about price.

 

[kizer]

I love how everyone says this is a competitive price, the Galaxy tab is smaller, and has maybe 10 apps dedicated to it, and is more expensive than the iPad (Base Models), and the same with PlayBook. Smaller, with much less apps, starting at same price. How is a 3" smaller tablet costing the same price better?

You do realize that the Tab will be able to use practically all of the apps on the Android Market? Last time I looked was over 50,000 and most of the apps already auto scale to the screen. Since it will be running at least 2.2 if not shortly 2.3 it will auto scale.

Don't count out Samsung by any means. I have the Vibrant Android phone and I can tell you right now its simply amazing.
File System
Real Gallery
You don't need any crippled software to sync with it
Expandable memory
Easy to load/unload files to/from it
Plays any video format you throw at it.
Divx,Xvid,Mp4,Mv4,MOV
Did I mention it plays flash?

If the Tab is anything like it the iPad will have serious completion. Now there is talk of a 10 Super AMOLED screen. Front and rear facing cameras too.

I was holding out for a while and settled specifically on the iPad because there are specific apps I wanted that I knew where not available on others, but time will tell. I'm sure a generation or 2 I'll be switching to something else because no offense Apple had their time.

 

[kizer]

TAB from T-Mobile is $399 with 3G so its not more expensive than the base model of the iPad.

 

[Yakuzagang5]

I love how everyone says this is a competitive price, the Galaxy tab is smaller, and has maybe 10 apps dedicated to it, and is more expensive than the iPad (Base Models), and the same with PlayBook. Smaller, with much less apps, starting at same price. How is a 3" smaller tablet costing the same price better?

You do realize that the Tab will be able to use practically all of the apps on the Android Market? Last time I looked was over 50,000 and most of the apps already auto scale to the screen. Since it will be running at least 2.2 if not shortly 2.3 it will auto scale.

Don't count out Samsung by any means. I have the Vibrant Android phone and I can tell you right now its simply amazing.
File System
Real Gallery
You don't need any crippled software to sync with it
Expandable memory
Easy to load/unload files to/from it
Plays any video format you throw at it.
Divx,Xvid,Mp4,Mv4,MOV
Did I mention it plays flash?

If the Tab is anything like it the iPad will have serious completion. Now there is talk of a 10 Super AMOLED screen. Front and rear facing cameras too.

I was holding out for a while and settled specifically on the iPad because there are specific apps I wanted that I knew where not available on others, but time will tell. I'm sure a generation or 2 I'll be switching to something else because no offense Apple had their time.

I understand about the phone, I have the fascinate lol and its a great phone, best out there I believe. And I know that most will scale right, but I'm just saying right now there's not many super apps in general on android that would for ME qualify buying a tablet. For example, a word processor that can actually be used, I.e pages. Now, a 10" hi-res SAMOLED galaxy tab? With a tablet specific ui, I would be all over that, but for now, I think the iPad still has the edge in the tablet market.

 

[CHT]

Very surprised to see how the playbook is priced. I am and have been a blackberry user for many years now (even had one of those old "blueberry" devices). I just bought my iPad last month and had been going back and forth about the decision for a while. It is my first Apple product. For the most part, I'm happy with the iPad and don't regret the decision, but the playbook does look pretty sweet.

 

[gentlefury]

Very surprised to see how the playbook is priced. I am and have been a blackberry user for many years now (even had one of those old "blueberry" devices). I just bought my iPad last month and had been going back and forth about the decision for a while. It is my first Apple product. For the most part, I'm happy with the iPad and don't regret the decision, but the playbook does look pretty sweet.

I thought a product has to exist before a price can be announced....silly me...I guess videos of a fake UI comped onto everyday objects is enough to call a product real.

 

[chuckz28]

Very surprised to see how the playbook is priced. I am and have been a blackberry user for many years now (even had one of those old "blueberry" devices). I just bought my iPad last month and had been going back and forth about the decision for a while. It is my first Apple product. For the most part, I'm happy with the iPad and don't regret the decision, but the playbook does look pretty sweet.

Well being a previous blackberry user myself I know better than to ever consider the playbook. Daily battery pulls on my tablet isn't acceptable. RIM nailed the hardware specs for the first time ever but the code is still written by the same people. Even thought QNX is different for them that could be a very bad thing. If after 900 builds for the storm they couldn't get common bugs ironed out en learning a new code will only make it worse. It will be extremely buggy I have no doubt. Chances are something in the hardware will fail as well of history shows anything of future events.