Ughhh No! i really like this Device, and i dont give a damn what other say about it.

Lets See the 2.0V and when it will relies the 4g LTE version of the PB i will buy that one to.

Sorry, i wanted to reserve my spot for later...

We all waiting for 2.0 :D yes

I love my playbook !!

Blackberry is big in many markets where Apple isn't. I would not say last rites over it just yet. People (aka you Americans) need to remember sometimes that the sun doesn't revolve around the good ole you ess of ay.

Sorry Kevin, but this isn't logical. It is more likely that the OS will head to the graveyard than license in other tablets or cars. A couple of things..

1.) Have you seen the discounts? 50% off at Staples, $219 at Staples, 100 GC..Granted, this is only for certain customers, but deep discounts this close to launch can't spell well for the future.
2.) How many customers that walk by have no idea how to turn it on? How are you going to license it to cars? Much more likely a user-friendly and easily learned experience, like iOS, gets the license in cars. At least for the bigger picture anyway.
3.) The Android OS is free. Why would someone pay RIM and QNX to use this OS? I don't care how good it is. And, NO ONE wants to develop for it. Free Android or Paid QNX. hmmm

Sorry Kevin, but it's not a stretch that it ends up the same fate or close to it as Web OS.

just got mine yesterday (16gb $400 on Amazon and $100 rebate coming of course)

loving it so far - definitely a powerful tablet, no hardware or OS issues at all, just not widely known yet. I agree the tablet market is in its infancy and I think it's also very price sensitive. No way I pay $500 for one - but $300 and I'm in

I think we'll have to wait until the earnings call today until we get any perspective on what the future holds for the playbook. That being said, there are a handful of days left in the summer. RIM still has not changed its position that native email and the android player will be released before the end of summer. They seriously have to say something about this or im going to snap. I bought my playbook the first week and if I knew "summer" actually meant mid-october I would have never paid $700 for it in the first place. Im hoping the bridge update is a sign that an OS update will arrive soon but one can never be certain. When 60 days passed since launch I complained and was told by people on this site i was a whiner. 90 days i was a major whiner. 120 days same deal. I just want features that were promised so I can use this thing how I want to.

This tablet market sure looks a lot like the console market.... See where Microsoft came in with the first XBox.... Everybody was like "they're crazy!" Now the XBox 360 was a better machine (albeit it's problems) than the first one and it's market share isn't bad....

I think this tablet market is the same.... and yeah, it might be dominated by Apple at the moment... But somebody, somewhere, sometime will figure out there is an alternative to the big brand name. :P

That's just my 2 cent on always liking and loving the underdog. ;)

I like my PlayBook, it's not finished but hell: I choose a PlayBook eventho I knew it's deficiencies...... I like what it does already and really hope and want it to get better!

It'll be fine. RIM has done a good job with the Playbook hardware (which is a lot of work). They had their hands full with huge hardware and software development hurdles, which was adding lots of cost. If they can focus on their phones, maintain their Tablet OS on the Playbook hardware for a while, they can mature the OS enough to make it viable for other manufacturers to take over the hardware part (unless RIM can find a way to make money on the hardware side).

I'm willing to follow the Playbook to the end

The thing about the PB is that its not based on media hype, this is a very serious piece of kit, even with all the various app related disadvantages, i've had mine for 4 days and its like running my life!!

When OS 2.0 gets released, bloggers, analysts and consumers will have a hard time finding any flaws with the PlayBook, other than it doesn't have an Apple on the back. If RIM is still selling the Storm 2, I think it will be a cold day in hell before they give up on the PlayBook. And it will be an even frostier day in hell when I stop loving mine and using it every day!

I love RIM, and I hate to say this but I am eagerly waiting for the BlackBerry PlayBook to sink just so I can purchase it at a discount price. I've been looking online and the price on a PlayBook is like stock, it goes up a few bucks, then it goes down.

But if anything I am also eagerly waiting for the Bold 9900 on AT&T.

OK so I was thinking of a last and final option (OEM'ing QNX seems a little extreme).

RIM's #1 business is phones. Ignoring their Playbook strategy for a second, they could bring a BRIDGE APP to other platforms. What does this mean? Basically, create a Blackberry Bridge app for the iOS and Android/Honeycomb market that allows users to bridge their email, browser, BBM, calendar, etc from their BB Phone to the non-QNX tablet.

I doubt this would happen as a "system-level" integration on iOS (like where you could see your BB's email through the native mail app) so for that platform they would need to create a very complex application that contains all those apps within it. But I think they could definitely pull that off with Android.

This could be RIM's trojan horse into the tablet community to sell more phones. Much like Apple did by making iTunes to sell their iPods.

Just my 2 cents.

Maintaince the PlayBook line of products will become much cheaper for RIM, once their phones are sharing the same hardware and software. As a result a year from now they will be able to update their PlayBook line with no more effort that it takes to update curve series.

i will be really sad if the playbook's future gets axed...

The real question is whether or not the Playbook is actually still alive? If you judge by what is occurring within various retail stores, the internet, and comments on forums - there's alot of people who already think the device is all but dead.

I think the market comment is dead on. And my theory is that Windows 8 is actually going to help a lot in that respect. The PlayBook and a lot of the Android tablets, like the TouchPad, don't really have that much ability to just say the OS name and have people know what it is. Windows does. Once Windows is on tablets, and once Windows desktops starts looking more like tablets, then suddenly there's two choices for tablets. And once people get used to thinking about two choices, they already have to do research and will realize there's more.

I am still somewhat doubtful that the PlayBook will ever be hugely successful. It's primary market is still businesses (security, portability) so it might never take much of a consumer market share. But I also think that Windows 8, even though it is adding another competitor, will actually help disperse some of the market away from the iPad. So definitely not graveyard, but I'd hedge my bets as the market stabilizes that they'll be fighting with Android for the #3 tablet OS.

And on a happy note, I finally met another PlayBook user a couple of days ago for the first time!

I don't think cars are going to be a magic bullet here. The Playbook will not take off until RIM puts some serious cash into app development/partners. The tablet market isn't an iPad market -- it's a use-case market. People buy tablets when they see tablets can do things they want to do.

Playbooks don't do much of what most consumers want to do -- they aren't movie machines (because no Netflix), they aren't car machines (because no nice traffic-integrated GPS), they aren't communicators (because no easy or integrated e-mail/BBM), they aren't personal agendas (because no easy or integrated calendar). Kobo is great, but it's only one thing.

Nor has RIM partnered with many institutional users to build dedicated software that would turn Playbooks into do-what-we-need machines for their particular institutional settings. No this-is-your-textbook educational partnerships. No courier services using Playbooks as their in-house check-in machine. I'm sure, or at least I'd hope, that something has happened on this front -- some hospital somewhere must have developed for it? But it can't be very much, because we'd have heard of it.

Unless and until RIM starts partnering with content providers and app developers to turn that around -- in other words, until its development is use-case-driven -- I don't really see how the Playbook can have a future. Case in point: my wife owns a first-gen iPad; I own no tablet, because long ago I determined that (a) I wanted a Playbook and (b) I was going to wait to buy one until it could do more of what I wanted -- Netflix, integrated e-mail, whatever. Still waiting, because I want my first tablet to be a Blackberry product, and will definitely wait till mid-October after DevCon for the latest promised release date. But very frustrating.

I think once the Amazon Tablet launches at $250, then all other tablet makers will be under pressure. So far it seems that will have a build similar to the PlayBook, but without cameras, and just 8GB built in memory. If the PlayBook price goes to $300 to $350, then I think they can clear out some of the excess inventory they mentioned in the conference call. There was also a mention of sales promotions after the October PlayBook 2.0 software release.

I am no marketing genius, and I am sure this idea is full of flaws, but what if RIM reached out to public schools (elementary and secondary) and made deals with them. The avg student doesn't need more than a tablet, and boards are starting to spend money on tech. They could be sold on the playbook (smaller, easier to type on, among other things). If you get the kids using it at school, parents will start buying them at home, to keep the tech the same. It might snowball from there.

One thing I think that his hurting Playbook sales is: stores like Best Buy do not update the OS on their Playbooks! We have 3 Best buys within 60 miles of where I live. Everyone of their Playbooks is running the OS shipped with the Playbook! I have pointed this out to everyone of the sales people at all 3 Best Buys. The only tablet running current, up-to-date OS is the IPAD2. They always say they have a poor wifi signal and can not update them! BULL!

Funny, but I don't see any sign of a "fate" anywhere near on the horizon especially now that v2.0 is near. As I keep my PB with me everywhere, I do get asked the usual question on if it's an iPad and, today got asked if it was a Nook (wth). Then, once I fire it up (cue swipe in .2 secs), fluidly scroll through the plethora of usable apps, show videos, the cameras, etc., then the newly initiated is wowed as they state how much more they like it than their iPad or any other that they've seen.

It takes familiarity and introduction. Not many people even know of its existence. I know the rest of the world doesn't play into heavy marketing like the U.S. does to get people to buy products, but if you're going to sell here, you may want to play like you own "here". The PB is just fine otherwise.

Hey Kevin,

Does your shoulder hurt? LMAO!

All kidding aside, this was a good article.

8330 - 8530 - 9630 - 9650 - PlayBook - 9930!
Once you go Bold, you never go back...

How many PB commercials have you seen since the dreaded "Flash" ads? Step it up RIM! Explain how the PlayBook is different!

And start getting some eye-catching displays in the stores for Christ sakes!!

I love my Playbook! I get a smile on my face when I show the people in Best Buy what I can do with an updated Playbook! I carry mine with me anytime I go to a Best buy! There is not a tablet out there with a better video! I was surprised that the folks at Best Buy did not know of the coming of the android app player! I do not know what Apple is paying Best Buy to push the Ipad2, but it must be BIG BUCKS! I have had mine for about 2 months now. You could not run fast enough to make me trade it for an Ipad2! GO RIM!!!!

This in reply to a couple of posts above.

I do know of an institutional user (a city) that is using the Playbook to control HVAC systems. It is a small step, but the reasons are clear: size (7" is more portable in the field than anything larger but more readable than a smartphone) and security. Put the PB in the hands of the users and the advantages become clear.

And enough about how few apps there are for the Playbook (and for Blackberries in general)! I already have apps that I never touch because there are not enough hours in the day to use them all, and those are just the free ones. And let's talk usefulness for a moment. I showed a friend the Playbook and his comment was "Living on the edge, with your tablet that has no apps." Then I told him of the pre-installed apps. Suddenly he was apologetic. And finally, search for fart in App World. 25 results. Do it in iTunes. Over 200. Granted, they are not all actual fart apps, but if that is how you want to be known or how you want to be discovered, then that is how you are counted.

And to add to the tablet market maturity comments: Rome was not built in a day. I think RIM is smart enough to let an investment grow and mature rather than sell and take a loss because of slow uptake in a still developing market. Last time I checked, patience was still a virtue.

I don't think Playbook will die. They have already made the R&D investment and as far as we know, they are not selling the Playbook at a loss. 200,000 units is quite a chunk of revenue and as long as it is not losing money (even break even is fine), there's no reason to stop manufacturing Playbooks. Those Playbooks are paying someone's salary and recouping the cost of Playbook development.

There are 2 other very simple reasons:
1) You don't want to look like a loser like HP, especially in the enterprise market
2) RIM's new phones will be on a same/similar platform. Even their old phones are doing okay, so the Playbook serves as the first step for any developers / users heading for the new QNX phones. And it's a great way to "test" the platform. You wouldn't want to test it on your bread 'n butter, would you? (Although you do run the risk of giving it a bad name).

The biggest weakness right now, maybe the only one, is lack of quality apps.
Yes, I have an iPad & a Playbook. I like the Playbook better, but sometimes the lack of certain apps (and I don't mean the ones that are just portals to a web site) is really annoying.

There is potential. I don't use a Blackberry, but every day commuting to work, I see tons of people with Blackberry's, especially the kids (so no, I'm not in USA).

As a Playbook and IPad owner, I agree with most of the comments. First, the Playbook is superior - it is lighter and easier to carry (when I travel, it's more portable) - a point not advertised. For those of us who have an IPAD - it's too big. In fact, I'm not sure if the Playbook was designed for this, but the Playbook fits perfectly in my cargo pocket in my shorts when i go hiking - something that many hikers will tell you is actually pretty smart!!! Portability for a tablet is critical and if RIMM could start advertising the superior features of the product, it could increase sales (it's no IPAD, because it's not an IPAD)! Understand that a different type of user is buying the Playbook - mainly, those of us who do not like the IPAD due to its lack of versatility in most environments (i mean, have you ever tried to type a simple document on the ipad - your fingers almost go numb).

Second, I feel abandoned. I am a public official and I "converted" my agency onto the Playbook, but I feel as though RIMM stopped advertsing and abandoned us loyal customers mid stream - ironically, they have a significant amount of cash and can really compete with Apple on ads. While the consumer market is attractive, for tech savvy people, i enjoy having my phone (Blackberry Bold 9900 - which is absolutely awesome) tethered to my Playbook. Plus, like Blackberry of the good ole days, it should be a device for the high-end consumer (which places value on the quality of the hardware). RIMM needs to stop trying to develop low-end tablets - i really dont give a crap about watching a movie on my Playbook. Rather, I want it for business aps, bbm and email\web access(ironically, the very attributes that made Blackberry successful). If I want to watch a movie or play angry birds, I'll use my IPAD. The Playbook should be viewed as a "status tablet" - meaning, its the Gucci of the tablets. In other words, dont let the analysts and the market try to make a nice high-end product a consumer/mid-market tablet. Imagine, if RIMM would advertise the Playbook as the "tablet for those users who need power as a business or high end device for thier daily needs, etc". Not only would more companies use the product (assuming the apps were there), but consumers that actually value the differences between an IPAD and Playbook would actually choose the better product. IN OTHER WORDS, STOP TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYBOOK A SIMPLE DEVICE - KIDS AND NEW USERS ARENT GOING TO BUY THIS DEVICE, BUT YOU CAN SEGMENT THE MARKET AND ATTRACT DISSATISFIED APPLE CUSTOMERS AND BUSINESS/HIGH-END USERS (REMEMBER, THIS STRATEGY MADE RIMM SUCCESSFUL - IMAGINE IF RIMM HAD DUMBED DOWN THE INITIAL BLACKBERRY AND COMPETED WITH PALM AND OTHER SIMPLE PHONES). GET BACK TO WHAT MAKES RIMM, RIMM. APPLE WILL FALTER - AFTER ALL, THE IPHONE HAS NOT REALLY CHANGED FROM ITS FIRST GENERATION OTHER THAN MINOR HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE IMPROVEMENTS - IT WILL FALL OVER TIME.

Finally, use your app store to your advantage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look, you are never going to catch up to Apple or Android - but this is not a bad thing!!! Actually, App World is better organized and remember, high-end customers focus on quality, not crappy apps! In other words, I would rather App World have 500 good apps, versus 50,000 crappy apps that we have trouble figuring out which are good and which are bad! Use this as an opportunity - if RIMM can convince analysts that high end consumers dont want useless apps, then RIMM can focus on ensuring that its App World doesn't get cluttered with junk - which is appauling about Android and Apple.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I hope that RIMM actually reads this post! Keep the Playbook, refocus its target market, keep updating the OS regularly and reward those customers that are actually investing in RIMM. Look, 500,000 loyal customers is a good start - yes, your stock price took a hit, but if you do this right, you may have a nice niche market to make a decent amount of money over the next few years. Advertise and reward us for supporting you! We are not the type of customers that hangout in a Apple Store all day; rather, we just want a darn good tablet to help us do our work and avoid booting our laptop, so we can spend time doing something else in the evening (in other words, RIMM customers are busy people who have lives outside of web surfing and hanging out a store all day to play angry birds)! Don't turn your products into what we dispise!

Sorry it dooesnt have a bright future

RIM rules the ergonomics! when i discovered it i never wanted another device, except another BlackBerry

The PlayBook and the Bold 9930 are the two best purchases I've made in years...I'm very happy with both

Look I am 70 years old and the playbook is excellent for my needs . The bridge works great with my Torch and there are plenty of good apps. I also have an IPad2 and much prefer the Playbook - smaller , faster and more business friendly. The IPad is for artists and kids RIM will sort out their problems, and they have a great platform to work with.

As a former BB'er starting from the 7290 (most here probably weren't around back then) up to the first T-mobile bold in 2009, I feel like RIM has constantly placed all of their eggs into one basket. The current basket is the Playbook, which they've failed to make relevant to non BB users. It's a great product don't get me wrong, but RIM needs to hurry up and make themselves relevant to the everyday user, and do it fast. They haven't got lots of time. I will always be a huge fan of RIM and still feel that the best phone I ever owned (biggest leap forward) was the 7290. I am now a current user of the Motorola Droid series of phones (3 Global) and purchased the HP Touchpad because of the sale. The playbook is too small in my opinion for the price point. Couple that with an unfamiliar user interface and strong ties to BB for email and messaging and success is out of reach. A tablet isn't a necessity, we all have laptops netbooks and desktops, not to mention our touch phones. Its going to have to wow us, either by price or useability to be successful.

-Sent from my HP Touchpad with WebOS

i'm living in the caribbean if you ever come to most of the islands u would swear that everyone owns a blackberry. i've been following the so called tablet wars. 'ive made a decision that if i'm getting a tablet im getting an ipad. although the blackberry spec wise is a better product i think i'm leaning towards the ipad. First of all having better specs doesnt sell a product a combination of a good marketing team and as some users pointed out the appropriate linkages.as a consumer im interested in what the product can do for me now not what the product has the potential to do i want apps i would rather hear there is an app for that than to hear its coming soon and thats all im hearing from RIM its coming soon. how soon is soon ?????????????? its always sooon. fact if you dont have apps and or a good marketing strategy then your tablet isnt going to sell.

I do believe that when RIM decided to enter into the tablet business they had all intentions of making a profit so its all about sales sales and more sales period!!!!! In order to achieve this you need to cater to the different consumer groups governments etc whether its business or the casual user thats the method for increasing sales.

A few recommendations and i do hope that RIM board of directors follow this forum

1) Get raid of the CO-CEO crap its clearly not working and i honestly believe that you need to look into this i think its foolishness and it needs to end

2) Fire the marketing team( if you have one ) its kinda clear that you really don't have a marketing team if you do they are seriously not doing a great job or if the marketing team isn't the problem maybe you need to invest a portion of that 3-billion dollars you have sitting in an account somewhere

3) After firing the marketing team hire KEVIN from Crack berry your number one Fan boy cause after reading his post etc he gets me more excited about your products than your own commercials

4) you need to take a page out of APPLE book i know a lot of people don't like to hear that name on this forum cause" WE" are all blackberry fans however you must admire their business strategy . stop announcing products before you're ready to launch them. if you're going to announce a product make sure its hmm maybe three months or even two months before the product is release and stop with the damm delays get your shit together. lets look at it the play book was announced almost a year in advance(might be exaggerating a bit :) ) it was launched and it still isn't a finished product. personally i think blackberry had a lot of time to see what apple was doing ,what android was doing even what web os was doing they had the opportunity to do things different even better but its clear that they didn't take advantage of that opportunity. work on your products silently when you're almost ready to launch your products then you hype those products up i think that would be a better strategy for rim.

5) give us up to date products ,give us products thats able to compete with other products, goes back to point number 4 after we hear about these leak products that takes almost a year for a release date by then there are other products thats being release with better hard ware and to be honest i find rim products they lack innovativeness they are boring. im spending so much money on a phone and i still have to turn around and purchase basic apps that other phones have as stock items come on RIM .

6) Stop the leaks try your best to control the info interms of when it is release.

ok thats all for now

what better bmw, mercedes, or audi? we need to remember that consumers like to be different once in a while. blackberry needs to continuing being different in they ways there products are and still be able to match the performance levels. not everyone wants to be apple branded. play book is a great device. they just need to further develop it. as far as im concerned once they merge app world with android player this whole app war will be less important. we need to not forget that consumers like companies and products that are different. if every one made the smartphone exactly like they the iphone then people would realize what that the iphone or ipad isnt perfect and flawless in every area of wants and needs in a device.

Despite already owning an iPad (the original), I really want a Playbook for the sake of supporting the underdog and I'm just a gadget nut.

Address the current OS and app gaps, and we will have an awesome device.

Well Blackberry is not the only one who is producing the tabs. They surely has loads of competitors but i am sure their loyal customers wont leave them as their target is not the gaming freaks. The playbook is a lot more than that!!!