It begins: Playbook prices slashed

[Pliablemoose]

I just couldn't see Android apps working well on the PlayBook, surprised they messed with it...

The exec offices at RIM must be pretty grim these days.

They seriously screwed the pooch by not pushing QNX phone development before they made a tablet.

Having Quantas essentially building the Fire on PlayBook internals has to smart too...

 

[Bateluer]

Personal privacy? On a Google platform.

Configure your phone appropriately. 99% of it can be secured, locked down, or otherwise mitigated.

Sorry for the buzzkill, but it seems that RIM has exited the tablet market and that's why they're heavily discounting the PlayBook. It's a dead device on a dead platform and OS, just like the HP TouchPad. Get them while you can, because the deal (like the cheap TouchPads) isn't gonna last very long.



Source

Looks like Amazon is here to make a killing.

Ouch for RIM. They need a management flush.

 

[trollolo]

i could see the entire tablet market going in the 200$ direction

 

[Pliablemoose]

Sawyer, you need to start lurking on the crackberry forums, they're almost as good as pre central

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Didn't RIMM say that they would have an android app by summer time? October is only a day or two away.

 

[smartpatrol]

They should've launched the Playbook around the same time as their QNX phones, along with some slick connectivity options between the two. At least then it would've had some chance of riding on their phones' "success".

 

[ew915]

Playbook was destined to fail from the beginning, a device with no support, no apps no nothing. It just had a decent browser and only a BB die hard fan would buy which proved itself to be the case.
There must be around 500,000 tablets out there in the stores waiting for a firesale. RIM shipped 750,000 of these and only 250,000 sold.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

if you want to run android apps, who not just get an android tablet?

tying a loser tablet to a loser phone is a double fail. there was never any interest in playboy tablet. no one in best buy or office depot ever looked at them, they eventually even unplugged them at all the stores here, an no one cared

 

[finbarqs]

so what have we learned from this?

HP saw that they cannot steal any thunder away from Apple, and if they wanted to, they were still years behind.

Motorola?? Wanted so badly to steal apple's thunder, and tried by selling something that's "superior" to apple. In fact, it's so superior, it has a "superiority" tax... w/ the release of gingerbread. Too bad it came inferior in terms of polish, superior in terms of features, which people would rather have polish then features. Besides, "there's an app for that!"

Blackberry? A little late in the scene, with some promise. Priced it against apple, WebOS-like multi-tasking, sure why not. Full Flash capability? Yeah! Bring it! No Apps, no E-mail client, must buy a Blackberry Phone in the first place to make it a nice contender! yeahhhh-no. And it's priced like an iPad, even though it's 7". Double no. (Still didn't have the polish of iOS)

Nook Color - eReader FIRST, not a tablet. Remember, no data plan so you can't really use the internet while you're on the road. BUT you can still do all the wonderful tablet things if rooted!! AND read books! PLUS it came out @ $249! WAY below the price of any tablet, with an IPS screen! Double Win! oh yeah, it's 7"

Amazon -- WTF... This tablet race belongs to apple already. We need something that'll get people off the WebOS firesale, away from people debating which android tablet to purchase... fuck it. 199. Dual Core A9. Yeah.. it'll haul. Oh yeah, it runs kindle too! AND you can root it! This might make people who couldn't get a Touchpad for 99/149 stop caring, and get our thing! They're nothing better than an eReader anyways, with only wifi capability!

Apple - lol... we're king 'cause we're the only ones making money I'm Apple, and I'm made of gold

in the end, you either loose money to try and steal apple's thunder, or you make a product as polished as iOS. Otherwise, people will just go to iOS!

 

[alent1234]

i'm willing to bet the kindle fire has been in development at least a year and amazon has modeled all kinds of pricing for it. not like they just decided to make it after the HP debacle

everyone knows apple always sells at the top first and then fills in the product portfolio with lower end products that suck compared to the competition lower end. except amazon is releasing an awesome low end product

amazon got there first this time and wouldn't surprise me if in say 3-5 years they are going to be a real threat to apple