BlackBerry Enters The Tablet Arena With The PlayBook

BlackBerry have revealed their tablet the Playbook. The Playbook is yet another response to the resounding success that Apple is enjoying with the iPad. Tablet computer is the hip and happening industry that all manufacturers want to be in.

The 7” tablet has a smaller screen than the first generation iPad. It was quite obvious last night while watching the keynote that BlackBerry where trying to expose features that are not on the current iPad. The ability to multitask and use applications that have Adobe Flash in them was highlighted. The other interesting thing is that the device is tethered. So a mobile operator is not needed and I suspect that BlackBerry would want users to partner their Playbooks’ with their BlackBerry mobile phones. The other thing that is interesting to note is that the PlayBook will be using an operating system that is designed by a company that Research In Motion bought in the past year.

The features of the PlayBook:

• 7″ LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Measures 5.1″x7.6″x0.4″ (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

There are 2 things that bother me about the PlayBook. The name almost immediately brings the image a coach talking to his team about a play that they are practising to my mind.  It seems  like Research In Motion(RIM) have gone for the name to not seem to be too corporate as that is the perception of BlackBerry and it could lead to the public not purchasing the tablet. Secondly, the timing of this tablet being available to the tablet is far from ideal. The PlayBook will be available in the first quarter of 2011 in North America and later for the rest of the world. This is when Apple will bring second generation iPad. Better late than never could be the strategy that RIM is following with the BlackBerry PlayBook.