Apple sold 9.5 million iPads and BlackBerry sold 200,000 of its much vaunted PlayBook. To put it another way, Apple sells more iPads in two days than BlackBerry sells PlayBooks in three months. No wonder Research in Motion\u2019s profits halved in the same period. <\/p>\n
Some internet commentators have even wondered whether RIM will survive, apparently ignoring the fact that even Nokia is resolutely surviving while making a loss. BlackBerry has too many major companies tied to its enterprise products \u2013 but the fact remains, the company has yet to start its recovery. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth looking at why the PlayBook isn\u2019t working: it doesn\u2019t have native email, so it only runs usefully in conjunction with a BlackBerry handset tethered to it. It\u2019s 7\u201d, when BlackBerry\u2019s business customers are particularly likely to also have a laptop with them and so less likely to need a frustratingly small tablet. And it lacks the apps that could turn imperfect hardware into a compelling proposition. <\/p>\n
But that aside, the PlayBook is a lovely device, well-made and with good specifications. Unlike the TouchPad, it is not painfully slow to do some basic things. And it has a real place as a portable notepad during presentations, for instance. RIM\u2019s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis assured investors that crucial Playbook update to allow it to run Google Android apps and finally get email was on its way very soon, but then that was promised in my original BlackBerry Playbook tablet review way back in June. <\/p>\n
And while HP was led by a new CEO with little commitment to consumer hardware, Leo Apotheker, RIM\u2019s top management is so committed to its products it could be accused of stubbornness. But that doesn\u2019t change the fact that just as Apple meshes the iPad with the iPhone so RIM will need to combine a smartphone with its tablet offering. So long as consumers continue to use the phones, whether they\u2019re business people or RIM\u2019s growing army of teenage fans, it seems highly unlikely that BlackBerry will abandon the Playbook. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BlackBerry not doing great with Touchpad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-macau"],"yoast_head":"\n