RIM's PlayBook to Deliver Lower Price Tag than iPad

[Michael Essany]

As we all know by now, Research in Motion is joining the competitive tablet marketplace with its new touchscreen iPad rival dubbed the PlayBook, due out early next year. Until now, many have speculated about the ultimate cost of the device and how it will size up against the dominant Apple tablet. In a new interview with Bloomberg, RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie is shedding some light on this burning question.

Promising competitive pricing, the PlayBook will retail for less than $500. The low end iPad currently runs $499. From the sound of it, however, its unlikely that the PlayBook will match that price. Industry analysts widely believe the eventual price tag will range somewhere between $399 and $489. While lower priced than the iPad, it still may not be enough of a sweet offer to convince prospective tablet buyers to look beyond the iPad - especially since RIM will not initially provide the PlayBook with built-in cellular wireless capabilities. Subsequent generations of the PlayBook - if there are to be any - would likely come at a much higher cost than the first-gen model arriving during the first quarter of 2011.

In the bigger picture, of course, competition between the likes of RIM and Apple (with similar offerings from Samsung on the way) will mean lower prices for all tablets in the future. It's a win-win for consumers, says Matt Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC in Boston who spoke with Bloomberg. ‘There’s going to be a lot of tablets on the market so I think pricing is going to start coming down,” he said.

Bloomberg

[MindGem]

The OS on that is pretty un-professional looking.

[goldenchildrose]

The only reason I'll get one is if this thing can run flash smoothly and without battery drain

[bignighttrain]

Maybe they can catch up while apple goes back to Mac.

[kingboarder]

The only reason I'll get one is if this thing can run flash smoothly and without battery drain

yeah...that sounds kinda impossible.
I mean Adobe's "awesome" flash player even locks up browsers on the 12 core MacPro I use at work!!!

[athleticswimmer]

I dont see myself buying this anytime soon...

[vruls]

Hmmm im going to wait till the iPad 2g and decide which tablet am i going to get

[EskimoRuler]

many of the other price tags for other tablets may be lower, but apple will not lower the price of the ipad until sales are effect drastically

[redwolf]

yeah...that sounds kinda impossible.
I mean Adobe's "awesome" flash player even locks up browsers on the 12 core MacPro I use at work!!!

maybe its the fault of the OS and not flash or the hardware....

if Flash was this buggy according to Apple... why is it widely known and used....?

[donkeykongking]

Could not agree more with redwolf

[Aliquippakid]

But isn't flash just a plugin? It makes more sense to build a plug in around a os then to build a os around a plugin.

[kingboarder]

maybe its the fault of the OS and not flash or the hardware....

if Flash was this buggy according to Apple... why is it widely known and used....?

Well, if I run it on a Windows PC in the office, flash might be more stable but the OS is crashing.....nothing really accomplished doing that

Don't get me wrong though, I love flash content. For example the Avatar Movie homepage, which is completely interactive. However, I do think that Adobe has to work on how many resources flash consumes. I mean the example of the new MacBook Air gaining about 2 hours of battery life just by not installing flash, makes it look pretty bad. If I were a developer of Adobe's flash team, that would really concern me.

Anyway, concerning the actual topic:
I think, I would buy the Blackberry Playbook, unless Apple drastically improves the second generation iPad. For example the one thing that actually made me get rid of the iPad again was that I couldn't use multiple tabs without Safari constantly reloading when I switched tabs. I hope that the Playbook handles that better or that Apple will fix Safari.

[novadam]

maybe its the fault of the OS and not flash or the hardware....

if Flash was this buggy according to Apple... why is it widely known and used....?

that's not the best argument.

if it was, we'd all still be wearing bear skins in the winer and loin cloths in the summer, burning fires and getting our asses eaten by bears and alligators and ****.

point is, lots of things are "widely known and used" ... until something better comes along. the fact that they are "widely known and used" doesn't mean they aren't total pieces of ****.

[ssfirme]

I like it,and FLASH rules

[Treeml]

Apple as always will ignore any competitors price point and continue to do what ever the hell they want. Has being more expensive then their competitors ever hurt their company so far? In fact they seem to benefit from their elitest over priced wares.

People who buy Apple products don't care about the price. They want the pretty shiny sparkly thing that makes them feel good.

[whereswaldo]

The OS on that is pretty un-professional looking.

That's RIM for you, great hardware, terrible software

[zoso10]

People who buy Apple products don't care about the price. They want the pretty shiny sparkly thing that makes them feel good.

Because innovation and extreme usefulness have nothing to do with the reasons people buy Apple products....

[yahhcold]

Sexy Device but it is no iPad

[jOnGarrett]

Hmmm im going to wait till the iPad 2g and decide which tablet am i going to get

why wait, the ipad 3G will be released 6 months after you buy the ipad 2G.

[emtee25]

It's a win-win for consumers, says Matt Thornton.

Haha when did I say that? And I'm from London England not Boston. (must be another Matt Thornton)