Back at the 2010 BlackBerry Developer Conference where the BlackBerry PlayBook was officially announced, RIM had both black and blue units on display (embedded within glass - click here to see our historic "first hands-on playbook" video). As a fan of gadgets that don't follow the traditional dark/black motif, the blue teaser unit gave me hope that RIM would launch the PlayBook with more than one color choice. Unlike phones where the traditional physical keyboard allows you to spot a BlackBerry at 400 yards, tablets sort of all look the same, so I was thinking RIM could really differentiate themselves in the space by taking a more colorful and dare I say playful approach on their hardware casing, which based on its fairly straightforward design one would think would be relatively easy to change up the colors on.
With no other colors announced for the BlackBerry PlayBook to date, it's looking like RIM is going to market with the good 'ole Henry Ford approach (you can have it any color you want, as long as it's black!). I guess it's not too big a deal as for those who want color as we know a ton of brightly-colored BlackBerry PlayBook cases will be available. Despite that being the case, I'd still love to see RIM offer the PlayBook in more colors. Am I alone here, or who's with me??? What color would you want to see RIM release the PlayBook in next? White? Blue?? CrackBerry Orange???
If cases are not your thing and RIM doesn't release any followup colors of the PlayBook anytime soon, I did follow up with the folks at ColorWare to see if they'd be offering custom paint jobs on the PlayBook. They haven't announced anything yet, but promised CrackBerry readers will be the first to know when they do.
Reader comments
Where's my BLUE (or white or orange?!) BlackBerry PlayBook?
Metallic flake blue!
Red all the way, i love love love red. But ill be happy just getting my black one and ColorWare can do the rest for me.
probably end up colorwaring mine as well or even truesupplier will eventually do something
I was kinda hoping for atleast a white one.
I'll be mad if I buy mine at launch and the release different colours later on as they do with white BBs..
I'd love to see it come in all the old Ford "Grabber" colors.
People seem to assume Q1 as first 3 months of the year. RIM just reported their fiscal year end earnings. We are NOW in Q1 people! Playbook is right on time, not late.
Hmmm. interesting. Canadian fiscal year does start in April.
RIM always does this with their devices. The plain jane version is released first and then the color versions come later. Hold on Kevin, I'm sure a white one will be offered later, probably after the 3G/4G versions are released.
just means were all going to have to go to colorware and get it done
you know, they should come out with a crackberry special edition
Red , purple and indigo would be awsome
Crackb, ahahahahaha Philadelphia Flyers Orange would would be awesome.
If not an orange case like what was shown would be nice. The Orange & Black would look good.
Or a case like the Targus with Orange inside and Black outside.
tiger stripes
#WINNING
Winnner! I'm down for some tiger colours!
Tiger blood red?
Gray or black
Its all good Kev... im sure ColorWare will take care of things :)
Dark red...sexy.
Or purple would be fun...
For me, black, black, and more black works just fine. Going multi-colour, at least as a marketing focus, would just invite more comparison with Apple, which I think we can do without.
I'm totally fine with after-market options for colourizing though, and then you can do camo, rainbox, or whatever you like. Just not my thing.
Retailer already have to commit to three models... every color would increase that by a factor of 3 again.
Unless RIM only provide color version in their $699 version + another $50 for the custom color.
I think this is very common. I know nintendo did the same thing, and then releases more colours later.
HHHMEMRMRMEHHHHMMMMMMwhiteiphone4hhhmmmemmemmmehm......
Wow, I am sorry everybody!!! There must be a frog in my throat!!!
Yeah, it happens with concept designs and "showing it off".
Look at the ps3 and the silver, white versions they had when they were first showing it off. I still can only get a black version unless of course you lived in Japan where they eventually got some colour into their lives.
Shame they just don't release the colours straight away, would have been a great move.
They should not have showed different colors if they are not going to have them on release day. Once again shame on you RIM
hrrmhmrmrhmmmwhiteiphone4hhhmmmemmemmmehm......
sorry, had to clear my throat there...
I think CB Orange would be siiick. With the CB theme. You'll be set! BAM!
I'd be the first in line for that one
So basically this was a story to tell us "There's nothing new to report." Is that poor reporting?
Geeezus. No. It's an EDITORIAL. Did i tag it with News & Rumors?!
Bottom line is I had a dream last night and I had my BlackBerry PlayBook... but it was white. I woke up in the morning and was like... Damn... what happened to colored PlayBooks. And I wrote the story. Deal with it! :)
I haz a saddie... no White, no CrackBerry Orange at launch.
Geezus would use a Playbook?
All I am saying is, considering they are already way past the expected delivery date, just let them get the things out first before we worry about being hip and cool.
Sincerely,
Those people still waiting for Storm 3 :)
Haha. Since we're talking Geezus, Amen to that! I hear ya.. I'm hoping BlackBerry World (early May) will bring forth much news on the next generation of 2011 devices. Apparently patience is a virtue, but I think both you and me don't get that! :)
"way past the expected delivery date" - that's less than fair, considering that they'll be < 3 weeks past the expected date of Q1.
Just because a bunch of so-called analysts talked about how they wanted to see it before the ipad2 doesn't mean it was promised to be out before the ipad2...
Colorware contest when they annouce they're customizing them!?!?!
LOL. I'll take editorials any day of the week! Beats those sponsored posts that pop up a lot lately "erggh"
Btw. I want a blue Playbook!!!
Btw I've seen those white ipad 2 and they look crap - Looks cheap for its price - RIM can do so much better.
Nah, it's just a slow news day.