BlackBerry PlayBook tablet announced

[Pliablemoose]

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. could unveil its new tablet computer—as well as the operating system that will power it—as early as next week at a developers' conference in San Francisco, said people familiar with RIM's plans.The tablet, which some inside RIM are calling the BlackPad, is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of this year, these people said. It will feature a seven-inch touch screen and one or two built-in cameras, they said.
It will have Bluetooth and broadband connections but will only be able to connect to cellular networks through a BlackBerry smartphone, these people said. Since the tablet won't be sold with a cellular service, it's not clear which carriers or retailers will sell the device.

In a significant development, RIM's tablet will eschew the recently revamped BlackBerry 6 operating system in favor of a completely new platform built by QNX Software Systems, these people said.
RIM bought QNX, a maker of operating systems used in everything from cars to nuclear reactors, earlier this year, in what industry watchers said was a bid to replace software criticized as slow and buggy.

RIM eventually plans to transition its BlackBerry smartphones to the QNX operating system as well, people familiar with RIM's strategy said.
The RIM tablet is being manufactured by Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan, and will run on chips from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Marvell Technology Group Inc., according to people familiar with the tablet's manufacturing.
RIM said it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.
A Quanta spokeswoman said the company is developing tablets for clients but declined to comment on whether RIM is one of them. Executives at Marvell, which already supplies chips for RIM smartphones, said the company has developed a new series for tablets but declined to say whether they are supplying an upcoming tablet for RIM.
The introduction of a tablet and new operating system come at a critical time for RIM, whose BlackBerry phones are facing increasingly tough competition from Apple Inc.'s iPhone as well as handsets that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system. Research firm Gartner Inc. estimated BlackBerry's share of world-wide smartphone sales fell one percentage point to 18% in the second quarter of this year versus the previous year—even as the share of Android and Apple devices rose.

A key challenge for RIM has been convincing software developers to create applications for its phones, and the company will spend much of next week's conference showing the kinds of things that can be done on its new devices—including the recently released Torch.
RIM is readying announcements and demonstrations, including an update on BlackBerry's mobile advertising platform and an Amazon.com Inc. music application, said people familiar with the plans.
Still, RIM's tablet will face stiff competition in an increasingly crowded market. The launch of Apple's iPad in April sparked a rush to build similar devices by a raft of firms from Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. to Taiwan's Acer Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. and Dell Inc. of the U.S. Many of those competing tablets will run Android, meaning RIM's new operating system will go head-to-head with Apple and Google offerings in tablets as well.
People who've worked with QNX's operating system say it's a worthy competitor to Apple's and Google's platforms, and could go a long way toward addressing complaints that RIM's devices are slow, unstable and hard to program for. ``It was architected from the ground up never to go down,'' says Alec Saunders, chief executive of Ottawa-based software developer Iotum Corp.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704129204575506160515163820.html

Sooo... The major carriers are going to sell this thing with a tethering plan to activated BB's or cell phones?

 

[jersiq]

I still remember how the Storm was supposed to be the "Iphone killer", and that didn't work out too hot for RIM.

Given the recent Torch offering, I will set my expectations low and maybe they will surprise me.

 

[AstroManLuca]

The Torch would have been impressive if it was released instead of the Storm or at least the Storm2.

The core Blackberries (Curve, Bold) are fine, but RIM seems to fail whenever they try to get cute.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Nothing new here. Same old info rehashed...

 

[rudeguy]

isn't the thing that moosey said was going to be "9.7 inches of fail"?

 

[Pliablemoose]

isn't the thing that moosey said was going to be "9.7 inches of fail"?

LOL, yep...

I see rumors it may just be a 7" tablet now though...

Am curious to see WTF BB will bring to market, if it really is a tether only device with WiFi, sold by the carriers, it's going to be a spectacular fail by the company...

 

[DivideBYZero]

LOL, yep...

I see rumors it may just be a 7" tablet now though...

Am curious to see WTF BB will bring to market, if it really is a tether only device with WiFi, sold by the carriers, it's going to be a spectacular fail by the company...

If it's WiFi only what's the big deal? The majority of iPads sold are WiFi, not 3G. Or am I just witnessing the latest entry for Nerd Olympics, the RIM toss?

 

[Pliablemoose]

If it's WiFi only what's the big deal? The majority of iPads sold are WiFi, not 3G. Or am I just witnessing the latest entry for Nerd Olympics, the RIM toss?

I'm saying the distribution channel is going to make it difficult for the device to be sold in any kind of volume, particularly if the carriers want to pair it with a tethering contract.

I'm keeping an open mind, the OS sounds interesting, but I really don't understand RIM's logic in the device.

 

[DivideBYZero]

I'm saying the distribution channel is going to make it difficult for the device to be sold in any kind of volume, particularly if the carriers want to pair it with a tethering contract.

I'm keeping an open mind, the OS sounds interesting, but I really don't understand RIM's logic in the device.

Oh, you'd be surprised. They'll make more flogging a SurfPad/Blackpad on it's own, in the short term, than they will selling an iPhone.

 

[pm]

I have a WiFi iPad that I use on trips primarily by tethering it to my iPhone (using MyWi).

As long as they make it easy to do - something totally seamless, I don't see this sort of strategy as bad at all except that it makes it hard to subsidize the device... but since it's primarily competition (the iPad) isn't subsidized, it doesn't make it too bad.

 

[DivideBYZero]

QNX is going to be VERY interesting, and pave the way for a new generation of BB devices. Mark my words.

 

[tatteredpotato]

It's called the BlackBerry PlayBook

 

[gsaldivar]

The tablet won't use RIM's newly launched BlackBerry 6 operating system. Instead, it's built around a new platform from QNX Software Systems, which RIM acquired earlier this year.

It will be interesting to see if RIM fares any better at keeping two platforms ahead of the curve instead of just the one...

 

[QueBert]

It will be interesting to see if RIM fares any better at keeping two platforms ahead of the curve instead of just the one...

Sarcasm? Right now RIM should be focusing 110% of their efforts into the one thing they currently do, which is phones, and their phones are far behind the curve. Hell they can't even get the hardware in their phones up to snuff. This tablet venture will just have them 2 devices behind the curve.

 

[gsaldivar]

Sarcasm? Right now RIM should be focusing 110% of their efforts into the one thing they currently do, which is phones, and their phones are far behind the curve. Hell they can't even get the hardware in their phones up to snuff. This tablet venture will just have them 2 devices behind the curve.

You're making too much sense QB.

I was trying to give RIM the benefit of the doubt, since there have been repeated accusations of BB bashing by some of the more 'sensitive' RIM fans here on AT.

In all honesty, I hope RIM is able to keep up with the pack going forward. Innovation, competition and choice are always a good thing for consumers. And RIM certainly has a solid track record of bringing all three to the market. ()

 

[DivideBYZero]

Some pretty epic specs:

Key features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook include:

• 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
• Ultra thin and portable:
  • Measures 5.1"x7.6"x0.4" (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
  • Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaez_4m9mQ&feature=player_embedded

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Wow this looks pretty awesome.

blackberry also has some more info on it:

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/

 

[Bateluer]

Specs are nice, but does that bezel seem overly large to anyone else?

 

[Deeko]

Looks very cool. I'll reserve judgement until we see official reviews & pricing, but in general, looks very nice. If prices were the same, I would buy this over an iPad.

 

[SAWYER]

Wow

We have an ipad but this looks way better imo

 

[TheStu]

Not out until early next year, by which time the next iPad should be out. It will be interesting to see the two in those terms. Especially if the iPad gets a 'Retina Display' (it is a handy nomenclature to denote 300+DPI).

Also it will be important to see what the pricing is going to be, particularly with regards to contract pricing. If the Samsung Tab is any indication, or at least what we know about the Samsung Tab is any indication, then there seem to be two routes. There is the iPad, which is a fairly nice piece of kit for $500 (wifi only), $630 (+3G) no contract. Then there is the Tab which is looking like it is going to be affordable with contract, and way more than the iPad without it.

Does look interesting though, I would probably never get it, but I hope that it does well.

 

[ponyo]

Specs are nice, but does that bezel seem overly large to anyone else?

overly large? That's all I see.

Like TheStu said iPad 2 will likely be out by spring next year. I don't see how all these beta tablets can compete with the second gen iPad when Apple had a year to polish and update.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Some extra OS info:

The BlackBerry tablet OS has an incredible OS that is based on QNX technology. The founder of QNX and the new BlackBerry tablet OS, Dan Dodge, took the stage to talk more about QNX. The BlackBerry Playbook OS features some of the following:

• POSIX code portability• High reliability• Highly secure• Killer performance• Symetric multi-processing• Multi-tasking

 

[melly]

I still think iPads are useless. Why would BlackBerry introduce a similar device? As a BB user, I would never buy this. The purpose of the iPhone/BB was to "do it all" on a small device. What would be the point in purchasing this item? /shrug.

 

[sciwizam]

Not out until early next year, by which time the next iPad should be out. It will be interesting to see the two in those terms. Especially if the iPad gets a 'Retina Display' (it is a handy nomenclature to denote 300+DPI).

I don't think these tablets are going to get "retinized" anytime soon.

With the Ipad's 9.7" 4:3 ratio screen, even 2048x1536 pixels only gives you 263.9 PPI.

Current Ipad @ 1024*768 (4:3) = 132ppi
RIM's Playbook and Samsung Tab @ 1024x600 (16:9) = 170ppi