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RIM introduces PlayBook -- the BlackBerry tablet
- jinushaun 16y agoRIM needs to fix the Storm and Torch before they even try to attack the tablet market. Those two products don't give me much confidence in this new one, although the Playbook is based on a different OS: QNX instead of BB. As for the Playbook, too much fake pre-rendered animations, not enough actual video of the tablet.
- suhit 16y agoI think the playbook is out there to test QNX and then to use in RIM's smartphones. Also, if you consider the idea of working on the PlayBook using the info and data in the BB phones that is fantastic in a work environment. Use your emails, docs etc on the PLayBook when the phone is in proximity and also utilize the cellular connection of the phone. I think they have some really good ideas there.
- protomyth 16y agoThat Q2 2011 date might make for some trouble if Apple set the iPad on a yearly update cycle. QNX's contribution will be interesting.
- ugh 16y agoI would expect the new iPad no later than Q2 2011. The current generation was announced in January and available in April. I see no reason why Apple shouldn’t update the iPad yearly – just like the iPhone and their iPods.
- borisk 16y agoI see quite a few reasons - Anroid 3.0 (optimized for tablets), Chrome OS, HP tablets, maybe new Windows tablets. http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/09/10/apple-may-be-planning-a-holiday-release-for-next-ipad/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/09/10/apple-may-be-planning-a...
- loire280 16y agoLogistically, it seems extremely unlikely that a new version of the iPad would be introduced in time for the holidays. It's only been 5 months since launch, after all, and they would have already had to be building them to be ready in time for the holidays. Ramping up production in April to catch up with supply, while simultaneously preparing the next model for production just a few months later? Madness!
- protomyth 16y agoIf they do announce in Jan and ship in April (probably quicker this time), then Blackberry might not look as good in comparison. I really don't get why you would tip off your competition unless they are counting on a lot of companies doing budgeting for this new device.
- ugh 16y agoWell, I’m not sure how much Apple could or would want to change the next iPad at this point in time. At any rate, 2011 will be an exciting year for tablets.
- protomyth 16y agoThey will probably add the front facing camera and probably the next generation of A4 to keep up with the summer iPhone / fall iPod touch. If they go the iPod evolution route, I expect to see a price drop to put more pressure on the low-end. I still dream of a dock / network sync that will allow people not to have to own another computer.
- alxp 16y agoThey need time to get developers working on products for the thing so they don't get caught out in the cold with nothing good at launch.
- dmix 16y agoWhat's interesting about this will be the enterprise adoption. Blackberry's played a key role in kickstarting smartphone adoption, even though iphone takes all the credit.
- drcode 16y agono mention of battery life- a worrisome omission.
- ComputerGuru 16y agoBlackBerry's typically have incredible battery life - far beyond that of any other smartphone I've used. Obviously this is a whole new kind of beast, with regards to both software and hardware. However, I'm confident (optimistic?) that RIM will have stuck to their legacy of excellent battery life with this latest offering.
- YooLi 16y agoI tend the lean the other way. If they had excellent battery life it would have been a bullet point in the spec list.
- potatolicious 16y agoProblem is that they've got a CPU that is (reportedly) twice as quick as what's in the iPad, more RAM... and 0.5 lbs less weight. As we've seen from the iPad teardowns, the vast majority of the iPad's mass is the massive battery. 0.5 lbs seems like it's a lot to rob from a battery while increasing the power consumption of the device.
- mbrubeck 16y agoThe Playbook's screen has about half the area of the iPad's. That will probably make a big difference in power consumption.
- foobarbazetc 16y agoThis is just bullshit. The reason BlackBerrys have decent battery life is because they run underpowered CPUs and OSes that do almost nothing. This thing is completely different, running a dual core A9 and driving a high res screen on a new OS. It's going to chew through battery like crazy. Guaranteed.
- achompas 16y agoThank God they didn't call it the BlackPad.
- rradu 16y agoActually, I think that would've been a better name than the PlayBook. Considering that RIM's marketing it as a "professional-grade" product, Play just seems like the wrong word to use.
- alxp 16y agoThink sports metaphor.
- achompas 16y agoThank you. This is a great name considering the enterprise market's demographics. Much better than BlackPad.
- rradu 16y agoI understand the metaphor but it seems a bit of stretch. Since when do sports remind you of a product built for the enterprise? Considering the device can do more than just plan out strategies (as a playbook does), the name doesn't seem right.
- dstein 16y agoFacebook lawsuit coming in 3.. 2.. 1...
- thought_alarm 16y agoWell, this is the first non-iPad tablet that I find remotely compelling. If this thing doesn't require a carrier to be useful and affordable then it has a chance.
- m0nastic 16y agoThey mentioned that it would pair with your blackberry, and therefore share your data connection. I'd be willing to bet that it won't pair with non-blackberry's (although maybe they'll surprise me), but if you have a BB (like a large number of people do) this should be a good companion device. As to price, they didn't mention that or availability; which I suspect is bad news on both fronts. They're really pitching this to enterprises, so I'm guessing affordability isn't their primary bullet point.
- megablast 16y agoWhy? Do not see anything special about this compared with the Samsung, or any other tablets that are coming out? It will come down to the software, and damn do I hate blackberry OS (not played with 6 yet). I look forward to having everything displayed as lists.
- bryanlarsen 16y agoI guess it's a good thing that it doesn't use the blackberry OS, then.
- nhooey 16y agoDo you not find the Adam Tablet compelling? It's going to have the NVidia Pixel Qi screen that can go greyscale so you can see it in the sun, and runs Android. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Tablet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Tablet It should be coming out in a few weeks, so it should be one of the first decent iPad competitors.
- m0nastic 16y agoI was happy to see the RIM acquisition of QNX bear fruit so early (I've always been a big fan of QNX). I get the impression from the keynote that as the plan is to tune a JVM for performance working on top of QNX, that the longterm plan for the phones is to also migrate to QNX. (The tablet provides a good means to test this out, and get it working before migrating the phones) This is one benefit to the virtual-machine based phones, if something better comes along in the underlying OS, you can migrate apps easier.
- simonsquiff 16y agoThe UI looks very impressive from the video. Very slick and fluid, the multitasking animation in particular is lovely. Will be interesting if this is the real UI or not - it might just be a mockup like that infamous Nokia N97 promotional video vs the terrible reality: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1231464 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1231464
- varaon 16y agoThey don't show a physical product in the mockup. I suspect you're right - we won't know for certain until someone does a hands on. In particular, I'm skeptical of Flash's performance, unless they've done some neat HW acceleration.
- mixmax 16y agoIt's interesting to see how everyone tries to copy Apple's success without getting the point. What made the Ipad (and the Iphone and the Ipod) a success was the fact that Apple created a new category that didn't exist before and marketed the hell out of it. All the me-too products make the fatal mistake of trying to make a product that's better than Apple's in the category that Apple invented and owns. No matter how hard you try to make a product that's an Ipad-killer you'll never succeed because it's not an Ipad. It's like the cheap knock-offs of brand names - the chinese Konferse shoes might look like Converse, they might be cheaper and they might even be better but nobody will buy them because they aren't the original Converse. If you want to own a niche you have to innovate your way there. You can't out-ipad and ipad. One of the commenters in the article even called it a palmpad. I remember an interview with Jonathan Ive (Apple's chief designer) where he was asked what he would make if he was given the task of creating a phone for another company. His answer was "I don't know, but I do know that it would be nothing like the Iphone"
- akikuchi 16y agoWould you have said you can't out-Newton the Newton? You can't out-Atari the Atari?
- mixmax 16y agoAtari's greatest hit the 2600 was never equalled, but they never managed to create a successor for the product. Maybe because they fired Nolan Bushnell, or maybe because of the leadership of Warner. so I don't think anyone out-ataried the atari - they just stagnated and died. And the Newton was never a success, so there wasn't really much to out-newton. It was too far ahead of it's time, and the technology wasn't quite there yet.
- akikuchi 16y agoI guess I have two points: 1. Your observations about Atari and Newton highlight one of the problems with your initial argument- it's not generally a safe bet to assume an early category-creating product will continue to innovate and develop to stay at the front of the pack. 2. Whether RIM creates a broadly superior product is beside the point. A new market has opened up, and they expect it should be profitable if they can capture just a small share of that market. Apple has shown a commitment to develop their successful product lines; but as the size of the market grows there will be plenty of room for profitable competitors even if Apple is wildly successful.
- akikuchi 16y agoone of the tagline descriptors from the video: "Flash-loving" Interesting they highlight that in their first marketing video. I suppose with these things it can be difficult to differentiate device capabilities that consumers can actually comprehend (as opposed to just tech spec stats). I still wonder to what extent people actually know whether or not they care about having flash capabilities on their mobile devices.
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- runinit 16y agoCompanies should really learn from Apple. When you announce a new product; have it ready to ship within in the month. Every single alternative tablet I have seen is coming Qx 2011. I don't want to wait for an alternative - i want it now.
- lotusleaf1987 16y agoCouldn't agree more, and plus the longer the wait the less it competes with the iPad first gen and the more it competes with the second gen iPad.
- raganwald 16y agoWhen you announce a new product; have it ready to ship within in the month (sic) In martial arts they have this thing they call "telegraphing" a blow, where you unwittingly give your opponent plenty of notice of what's coming so that they can be ready to counter it. Obviously RIM is so confident of their manufacturing and marketing prowess that they don't mind giving Apple 3-6 months notice of what they plan to ship. On another subject, why is RIM even in this business? Are Apple iPads taking market share away from Blackberrys? Is iPad some kind of a threat to RIM? I would have guessed that RIM would be pouring all of its efforts into defending its corporate phone turf, not thinning their forces by launching new devices.
- YooLi 16y ago"Obviously RIM is so confident of their manufacturing and marketing prowess that they don't mind giving Apple 3-6 months notice of what they plan to ship." Really? To me it reeks of "don't forget about us". They are telegraphing not because they are so confident in their punch but because they don't want people to forget they are in the fight.
- raganwald 16y agoI apologise for being a little sarcastic. However, "Don't forget about us" is only useful if their customers, especially their "enterprise" customers, are about to standardize on iPads and can be persuaded to hold off on the basis of PR stunt. It's not obvious to me that consumers interested in buying an iPad for back-to-school or during the holiday season will hold up their purchases to see what RIM actually ships and how much it costs.
- raptrex 16y agoAnyone else think it was weird they said it will be "an incredible gaming platform for publishers and the players"?
- YooLi 16y agoIndeed. Especially if it is aimed at business.
- cwilson 16y agoI really hope they actually do something with the platform that allows it to live up to its name, "PlayBook". I hope they didn't just name it that because they liked the sound or the metaphor at face value. Think about it. Enterprise types are very competitive and sports fans; so the idea of carrying around your work "playbook" suddenly becomes very cool. I understand that the mix of calendar / email / and web make this the case for any device but I'm still waiting for someone to push the bar forward in this area specifically. I'm a huge iPad fan but I'm still waiting on a developer to do something that takes all the different content buckets (GTD apps, email, Dropbox, Basecamp, Yammer, CRM, etc) and create an interface that allows them to work well together and with others (be it people on your team, company wide, or maybe just your family and friends). I'd really like to see someone do what FlipBoard did for RSS feeds and social feeds on the iPad but for being busy at work, in and out of meetings, on the go, etc. The name "PlayBook" really hits home for me there but I have a hunch that it's just a name and nothing more.
- wikyd 16y agoA lot of people here are referring to the iPad as a tablet computer, but I think that most consumers and Apple do not think of the iPad as a tablet, slate, or other terms that imply computer. It's an appliance. Apple doesn't highlight or easily make available the typical computer specs like RAM, chip speed, etc. You buy an iPad and you know the software will just work. You don't have to worry about if your iPad can run X program or Y program, etc. Any stress that most people associate with computers aren't even concerns with the iPad. What surprises me about the PlayBook is that BB can't seem to make up it's mind about how it's marketing the product. They pretty clearly emulate the iPad in that the web, Flash, etc. just work, but at the same time they highlight specs that mark it clearly as a computer. These specs really don't matter when competing with Apple, because only a very smaller portion of the market would even consider the specs when choosing between the iPad and the BB. Even the name can't make up it's mind; Book really labels it as a computer, but Play makes it seem otherwise. I sort of assumed that BB would be targeting mainly enterprise customers at first with their tablet, but naming it Play really conflicts with even that strategy. In short, the product seems like design by committee and I think it's identity crisis will be a problem for it.
- jsz0 16y agoI'm not convinced 7" displays are the right size for tablets. Using the iPad 9-10" feels right to me. That might just be experience bias but I don't really see any advantages of going smaller. Might as well just get one of the bigger SmartPhones at that point. If anything I think the future of tablets might be larger -- not smaller. I would love to have a 13 or 15" iPad.
- chubs 16y agoI agree. I think it's silly that RIM says their playbook will be 7", but cost the same as an ipad. Smaller, but not cheaper? I'm not sure that's going to make things easier for the poor salespeople in the shops trying to sell these.
- jarek 16y agoJust like a Macbook Air is smaller, but not cheaper than a Macbook Pro? Come on. (Before the obvious response: yes, the Playbook is thinner and lighter than the iPad, too.)
- jarek 16y agoNo one was convinced 10" was the right size for the iPad before it was announced, came out, and people liked the experience. I'm hearing a lot of positive feedback about the 7" Galaxy Tab. Have you used a 7" tablet?
- d2viant 16y agoIf they're going to compete with Apple, they need to work on their presentation and connection with the consumer. The guy in the pinstripe suit and tie is simply no comparison to having a passionate Steve Jobs in jeans up there on stage walking you through it live like you're sitting at a desk with him.
- 1053r 16y agoI think I'd still rather have a Notion Ink Adam (http://blog.laptopmag.com/hands-on-with-notion-ink-adam-prototype-its-amazing http://blog.laptopmag.com/hands-on-with-notion-ink-adam-prot...). It's supposed to be coming out Q4 this year, and has a pixelQi screen (combines the best qualities of e-ink and LCD). iPad like price and form factor, runs android, what's not to like? But then again I already have a Nexus One, so I've clearly drunk the Android kool-aid.
- rradu 16y agoSeems like a pretty good product if it launched now, but Apple will soon announce the next iPad which will likely leave many of the PlayBook's distinguishing features in the dust.
- brisance 16y agoBased on specs alone and QNX's track record, this seems to be a credible competitor to the iPad. At least much better than the HP slate running on Windows 7. Going through the Blackberry site, it isn't clear how apps are developed for the Playbook. One page mentions web development using the HTML5 stack and Adobe Flash. Perhaps the apps are developed as a bundled runtime on top of Flash?
- thought_alarm 16y agoThey talked up the POSIX environment and OpenGL, as well as a JVM for classic BlackBerry compatibility. But for now it appears the only dev kits available are HTML5 and Flash, which isn't surprising. Like Apple and iOS, RIM will need to finish writing v1.0 of their own native apps before they will have a good idea of what the public APIs should be. And it remains to be seen just what that native API will resemble, what language(s) it will support, how good the documentation is, etc. Those things just don't fall from the sky. On the other hand, RIM has lots of experience in that area.
- ghshephard 16y agoAll the major players with a mobility presence realize they have to have a tablet in this game for their channel. HP, RIM, Dell - hell, even Cisco has a tablet: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11156/index.html http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11156/index.html? I don't think Cisco/RIM are that interested in the consumer space (initially) - my guess is they have ceded the first couple years to Apple, and will start with the Business Vertical - an area that Apple seemingly has fairly low interest in pursuing seriously (to date - They succeed in valley companies, where 80% of the laptops in meetings I go to are Mac Book Pros, despite themselves. I mean, seriously - how difficult is it to get enterprise on-site support...)
- joubert 16y agoI don't see what's business-y about this thing at all. Press photos show Videos, Photos, Music apps. In the FaceTime-like app, it is a dad chatting to a baby. Just saying. I presume hackers will love the dual-core goodness (I wouldn't mind experimenting with Clojure on it). Wonder what their development environment is like and how good the UI kit is.
- sahaj 16y agoVOTE: between this and galaxy tab, which would you buy?