Where did you get the idea that they're giving up the fight?
“We continue to remain committed to the tablet space, and the 32GB and 64GB models of the BlackBerry PlayBook continue to be available from our distributors and retailers around the world,” the company told Cnet in a statement.
I bought a 16GB Playbook for £169. It may not be the best tablet in the world in terms of specs or apps, but for the price it's an excellent buy especially with the updated operating system.
If you want a small tablet for email, internet and multimedia then take a look. If you want a big tablet with lots of apps then look elsewhere.
Blackberry sent 10 Playbooks to the Council I work for last year as gifts or some like. I expect in the hope we'd order a lot more. Of course we didn't but I think the communications team use the Playbooks quite a lot (work wise).
The point is, if they did this for other councils, and there are a lot in the UK, it must have cost them a fortune. No wonder they're making huge losses.
Originally Posted by Roush: “Where did you get the idea that they're giving up the fight?”
RIM may think it's still "in the fight", but realistically it was knocked out ages ago.
The PlayBook has been a spectacular failure, sales-wise.
Even with its current price (massively reduced from its original iPad-matching price), it has not sold that well at all, and RIM has lost a hell of a lot of money on it.
I think the only reason that RIM hasn't discontinued it like HP did with the TouchPad is that, unlike HP, RIM doesn't have a lot else going for it. Its business *is* BlackBerry. Ditch the tablet, and all its left with is the phone (also failing).
Originally Posted by LostFool: “I bought a 16GB Playbook for £169. It may not be the best tablet in the world in terms of specs or apps, but for the price it's an excellent buy especially with the updated operating system.
If you want a small tablet for email, internet and multimedia then take a look. If you want a big tablet with lots of apps then look elsewhere.”
I also got the 16GB one at that price. It's a nifty little tablet that does everything I need and it feels like a quality product. The initial setting-up process is a bit of a long-winded pain in the neck, but after that it just works a treat. If you don't need acres of memory for movies etc, there's plenty of room for everything.
Originally Posted by LostFool: “I bought a 16GB Playbook for £169. It may not be the best tablet in the world in terms of specs or apps, but for the price it's an excellent buy especially with the updated operating system.
If you want a small tablet for email, internet and multimedia then take a look. If you want a big tablet with lots of apps then look elsewhere.”
I purchased a 16GB Playbook for exactly the same reason and for what I wanted a Tablet for, checking e-mail, web browsing, etc, it is perfect.