FIRST

If it's only 60 days away, you'd almost think they would have pushed the launch back two more months. With native apps, Android App Player, and more App World apps at launch, reviews would have come out of the gate much more positive.

Good Stuff!
Can finally shut up the haters!
It's a stand alone product.. PERIOD!

Nice. But Gmail looks sexy in the browser as it is.

So the people that make decisions at RIM thought to themselves..."Hmmm lets see Blackberrys are known for awesome email and a great calendar app lets build a tablet that does NOT have these from the start!!!!"

I know in the long run this will all work out, but it really is inexcusable to not have these features on launch day.

Honestly, I am more excited about the Android app player! That will really make a difference to the BB critics.

I'm not a big email client kind of guy. Other than work email I have stayed away. Now that Google has a snazzy HTML5 mobile site I doubt I'll even use the native email client on the Playbook.

They've still not announced a UK/EU release date. I would guess that native email and playbook launch will probably be the same time.

a free one would be nice right now! i'm pumped to see this thing in action!

a free one would be nice right now! i'm pumped to see this thing in action!

I never thought I would ever care about the size of the tablet being something that would sway me towards one over another, let alone be the deciding factor for me. But I'm sorry, even being a crackberry addict and never owning one Apple product, there is nothing even in the same league as the ipad2. Forget Flash, that 10 inch screen and OS is class leading, and is just such an intuitive device. If the playbook had a 10 inch version, I would get it.

Yay! Now everyone can go back to not caring about their email accounts. Except of course, those of you who are in need of viAGrraa

Now if only they also bring universal search, turn-by-turn assisted GPS and BBM video calls to the wifi Playbook! Also, Skype, yahoo messenger and OoVoO wouldn't hurt either. Lastly, a Playbook stand has built in full HDMI output, full USB and charges it all at the same time would be awesome!

Hate to say it but i really think this thing will be a big flop. Too small for starters for most people As i see it, the general public needs simplicity...the bridge = nightmare...no email client etc at launch= silly. RIM better hope that it can withstand the initial criticism and lack of sales...I love bberry so dont flame. Mark my words, it will not sell very well as is. I am excited to see the new crop of phones as I am sick to death of my i4 and its crappy phone/email capabilities...(and i have had every berry made since 2004...

You would guess that RIM would have shut 4 guys in a room, shut the door with high grade plasma welding, feed them pizza, coffe, and coke and not let them out, until they deliver an alpha email qnx client! Triple overtime and success bonus in the end! As I said on Tweeter:"The PB affair has been the biggest Marketing and PR clusterfuck in contemporary product launch history". RIM has to get in front of this thing, get Obama to use a PB in the White House (he's a BB user!) Get Steve Jobs or his kids to use a PB, something to erase the negative reports, RIM has to hire John Hamm or Hugh Lowry / Dr. House to act in some 5 or 6 kick ass tv-ads with a super catchy slogan! RIM has to get Lady-Gaga, Usher or Eminem to be seem listening and playing music in PB's also some world-famous DJ's to spin music on their PB's. They have to hire a world-famous ex-CEO that knows how to dispense spin, hire 300 press follow-up team to get feedback and cater to the tech press, and a concerted product placement offensive on TV, Movies and non-traditional media. Cross-deals with the Auto Industry, etc. If vigorous and decisive measures lie these are not taken expeditiously, the situation does not bear well for RIM. BTW I'm buying a 64Gig PB.-

LMAO!!!

Having an email client is low low priority. Most users, whether it be laptop, desktop or slate style device don't use an email client. I run a company that employs over 50 people who use email, most on google apps, very few actually use an email client, some of the younger employees (18-25) have not used client email (outlook) in several years. Web-mail leads in all my work and home life experiences. Move on.

If you have a blackberry you have no need for native email on your playbook. And let's get real if you have an ipad do you carry it around for email? Or do you use your iphone or other phone for email. It is a dumb complaint.

How about them APPLES!!!

It is a rushed product and you damn well know it.

Sounds like RIM is in panic mode after steadly decline.

Isnt this why we have smart phones??

Really they have done well to me if the playbook can replace my netbook the sameway my netbook replaced my laptop. I'm looking for portable internet. The other complaints about native calander and email are obviously from non blackberry users. The size would seem small if you are comparing to an ipad or xoom. But if you want something to carry in your pocket it is perfect.

I'll lay a challenge to all those people who have whined about the lack of a native email client.

Make sure you let us know if you actually ever use it!

With email on your desktop (assuming you bother) and on your phone, the last thing you need is email on a tablet.

Now you'll never know whether you replied to a mail without checking three clients.

I don't know anyone that uses a mail client for personal email anymore. Largely because at work we can't use a personal mail client, but we can use Gmail etc.

The furore over the email client is complete nonsense.

Apps that I need for Playbook

Yahoo messenger capable of video chat
skype
msn
docs to go [preinstalled]
PDF viewer

no need native email...

Thanks RIM for Playbook, for me it is the Best Tablet,

This is How I Rank the Tablet based on How I can use it as Working professional.

1. Blackberry Playbook
2. Motorola Zoom
3. Samsung Galaxy Tab

I can't include Ipad here because IPAD is a TOY, sorry, that's how I look at it.

I am a BB user, I'll use bridge, if not I would check my email on gmail or webmail with the browser. Us BB loyals don't care about the PB's "shortcomings" but its reckoning time for RIM! RIM its been squeezed by Apple and Ios on the right and by Google and Android on the left. The Street is not giving them love, lowering the price of the stock of a company that by any rational metric should be enjoying unparalled praise and acceptance by all financial markets. They have to question themselves what do they want to become! A crisis its an excelent moment to cristalize, identify and implement solutions for basic and specific problems. RIM has the chance to shift its paradigm, raise above the fray, steer towards the storm, cross it and reach its objective.

I am amazed about all the complaints regarding email and the size. When the PB was announced people where told that it will not have native email and the size is designed to make it more portable.

Now that it is coming out exactly as they said it,, everyone is complaining.

RIM is releasing this so they sell it to the millions of users of corporations that have BES. That alone is a HUGE market for them and they already have 10s of thousands of orders from corporations. So they are not going straight out the door to compete with the the iPad or XOOM, they own the enterprise space and they are coming out first for that market, they keep the competition out, get some money to finance even more development for it.

Anyone who does not have a BB is not the main target at the moment even though they can still use it and all but i am sure BB owners (there are over 50 million so not a bad market) are the ones that will first rush to it. i will be getting mine next week while traveling.

Personally my BB never leaves my side and whether i have a PB or not it never will i have many things i need especially it is my phone so the bridge is awesome.

That is what they said and that is what they are delivering so do not complain about something you where told it will not be there. If you do not like it there are other tablets that are inferior in many aspects and much more expensive (the iPad is in reality more expensive to get all the pieces to be on par with the PB something no reviewer mentioned).

This interview was amazing and extremely clear and made fun of some of the comments and duly so.

I love my blackberry and its the best phone to use in my country. I am getting the playbook because Its portable and fulfills 80% of my needs for a tablet. The native email client complaint is plain stupid. My email client is Gmail and I can access it on my phone and my PC at home, or at my office. I want notifications for my calendar on my phone, which is with me 95% of the time, not my tablet. However, I think RIM is trying to do too much all at once and its confusing consumers. Apple will have greater gains because of all this confusion. RIM is trying to please two masters at once with one team. I really feel RIM should have two divisions. One for enterprise and one for consumers.

To be honest all those reviews are making blackberry owners buy one for example all the reviews say only good if you have a bb well I have one so the playbook is for me now there are 60 million of us you do the math

this guy is a genius.

WOW i was gonna buy a PB anyway, but in this interview Jim actually SOLD a PB to me and i bet that he did aswell for MANY others :) CANT WAIT tograb one.

Now THAT's how a CEO handles an interview. I'm sorry, but RIM needs to do away with the whole Co-CEO structure. Mike needs to be knocked down to just the President or CTO level.

All those talks about delays are pointless. Anybody remembers who created the first micro-wave oven ? The first LCD or plasma tv ? The first mp3 player ?

Apple is dominating today, but competition will rise and who knows who will dominate the tablet market in 10 years... I will buy a PlayBook because it will do the job for me, it is small and you are not tied to iTunes.

Wow, just saw a clip on Fox News where their "tech" guy blasted the PB for no native email and no apps available. Completely beside the point IMHO

nice interview - let Jim do the talking from now on :) its sooooooo much better

For all of you that are posting that you dont need a native email client because you dont have one on your desktop. You do realize that microsoft outlook ( and others) are native email clients right?

You dont surf to microsoft web page, log in, then get your email.

If you haven't seen the interview, watch it. It's worth 17 minutes of your time. Jim speaks very well and points out the important and positive things on the playbook. I bought an iPod at Christmas time, and have about 30 apps on it. Good ones. NOT 10,000 apps. There are many that were just trash, so I deleted them. The wi-fi for me is just fine. Why in the world would I spend $30 per month for an internet connection?

Now I have a BB, and the Bridge between my phone (and the PlayBook that I will be buying) is a HUGE plus, and icing on the cake! Ihear that the speakers on the PlayBook are amazing, unlike those on the iPod, so there is a good chance that my iPod may receive less use. In the last month, the only thing that I have been using it for is Angry Bird.

Thanks for reading.

Let's not forget this is crackberry.com. Most people here have a blackberry. No need for desktop mail client. And if you are at work using outlook well you don't need your playbook. What about when you are elsewhere. What I think is great is that you finally don't have to pay for another data plan. If you have a blackberry you get two for one.

Cool now don't release it until its ready in 60 days

They are already in stores, where I will be soon ... getting one to play need for speed! You would like a recall? That's why wi-fi is there. A few small glitches will clean this thing up, so that it runs like a well oiled engine. This thing is a POWERHOUSE ! Mark my words !

After seeing both the co-CEOs in the last couple of days I am very concerned for RIMs future.

Co-Simpletons!

He actually used words like "webthings" and dodged questions until the host pressed for
an answer.

He also doesn't think the PB not having email isn't a big deal when the thing is getting blasted in the press and their stock dropped 1.7 percent in one day!

Steve Jobs has got to be laughing his a*ss off!

Tim

Tim

Hey Kevin,

You have been playing with this thing for 24 hours now. How is it?

LOL
She introduced him as JOHN Balsillie.

First Ipad was too big and clunky and will weigh your shoulder down, no flash, now PB is too small and Flash is too slow...

All of a sudden everyone wants an email client, how many of you use Outlook Express/Live Mail/Eudora? Blah.....

Complaints about the power button LOL

If it was crammed with apps, you would hear, Rim has crapped it full of useless apps, These reviewers would say Email client? Who uses that, that is why ppl have a phone.....

Go and read the Ipad 1 reviews from last year. Find anything to pick at....

I can't wait for someone to complain that its too black

Just making some fast numbers... Jim says they have over 60 million users, and over 250,000 servers... That translates into around 240 Blackberries per server.... Anybody thinks it's too low? I was thinking that a server should handle at least 1,000 active blackberries.

Either way it's something worth noting and interesting. It was a pretty good interview.

I smell a stock buy back program coming very soon.

Gee, yes I always hear people say I really want an iPad so I can check my email with a NATIVE email app!! Lol. Ridiculous. People are just looking for something to complain about because they can't believe RIM has bested Apple in many ways... web browsing experience to name one.

I love what I do. The end

It pisses me off how many news agency's are so hard on blackberry and on the playbook. Its a great device, few shortcomings for people who want native email etc. and tons of apps, but their definetly is a niche market for a 7" tablet that has a webbrowser that is unhindered like the ipad. I agree with Balsillie that you don't need 300,000 apps, when you have the world wide web, you should be able to achieve anything by creating your shortcuts. I've had a PC for over a decade and my number one app is my web browser, and then utilities. I just wish people would lay off them and give a little praise for a small Canadian company that has exceled in many ways. I honestly think Americans hate on blackberry since its a Canadian product, even though majority of top professionals in America, including the President rely on its security.

First of all, I don't get the whole native email app complaint thing! Example, I'm in a 2 hour train ride, I either want to finish typing a document or relax and watch a movie or something. For people to whom email is important, people like me, already get their email pushed to their phones! The only thing that is still important to me and can get me to pause the movie are 3 things: getting a phone call, email / sms on my phone OR the conductor wants to see my ticket!

And I see things really simple, if you can't get email on your phone NOW in 2011 but you do buy a tablet and want to check your email while on a train.... you can't complain about any app! You have the full web to do it.... otherwise getting a new phone would be your main priority if email is important to you! And for any other place anyone might be, they would have a laptop / desktop and mobile to get email and stuff. For most people who are given permission to use a tablet while working, actually need to do other things on it, example place stock orders, and not be all social ALL THE TIME.

What also aggravates me even more is: "Where is the whole nice job RIM. Welcome to the tablet club, you did good for your first attempt." Look at the IPad 1: they deliberately left out some ram and camera's , why? cause they knew people wanted it and hello 6 months later.. ...look at our amazing super improved Ipad2! Even with those improvements, the core of PB is just as good and even better at some points.. Why is the PB not given any major kudos for it's TRUE multitasking capability's and not the fake Iphone / pad crap.

A lot of people in the world are more blind and stupid than they were back in the 1940's.
I WANT APPS APPS APPS. Cause I like crap and like to pay for a lack of functionality. Also they are dumbing them selfs even more cause they don't want to learn anything new anymore. Everything needs to work right out of the box, no need for manuals, if they press on something and it doesn't work.. its the most useless piece of hardware ever! And they wonder why their devices are full of spyware, drones, bots, cookie collectors, viruses and what not...

Hurray for RIM, launching a product that works for people with sense, for people who also have the knowledge that in the future there are more updates to come. Look at the 9700...still getting OS 6 leaks! And they worry about a PB that RIM invested MILLIONS of Dollars in. They need to make it better or they can close up shop. ..... did I hear any reader say 'FLAME ON'? Don't even bother replying, you are not one of the fantastic four!

It would be nice if Microsoft ported Outlook over to the PlayBook. That way we would have a really good email client rather than the no-folders, no-rules, half hearted offereing that RIM dishes up on our phones.

I really hope that RIM do a good job on a native email client. I hope that the integrate Notes, Contacts, Calender and Tasks all into one single app just like Outlook. I also want proper (folders an' all) syncing to and from my desktop Outlook.

Sounds like they forgot to include it.

I haven't used an email client since I left my last job that forced me to use Outlook. The beauty of webmail is that you can access it anywhere, from any device with web access. Maybe I'm just dense, but I don't really see what all the fuss is about an email client. Even if the Playbook shipped with an email client, I wouldn't use it.

I don't mind waiting for e-mail, if all that's missing, why not just release it and patch it up at a later date, much rather that then have nothing for a couple months, better off releasing.

its good playbook owners are not going to half to wait to long to get this,they will appreciate it more after going a month without it

HAHHHAHAHAHAHA IT sucks I knew it would

So, who will buy a PlayBook? Anyone who doesn't want to spend another $30.00 per month on an internet connection .... and that will be ALL BB users. Lets just say that iPad remains the top seller, and RIM the second top seller of tablets. Is that not good enough?

They say that important people have BB, and grannies are latching on to iPhones.
Can someone please clearify this?

ooooh I can't wait to hear the previews and reviews for the HP Tablet......I bet you it will be given praise...

Guess that means I'll check this tablet out in 60+ days. I'm waiting for Android App support as there are some Android apps I want, but would prefer the BB UI.