The world as I know it has been split into three types of people: Blackberry users, iPhone-ers, and everyone else. I am a hybrid of groups 1 and 2. I use a Blackberry but still have a MacBook, iPod, and an Apple email. With my loyalty of two companies, I’ve been asking myself, what am I going to do once Blackberry’s tablet is in market? That question became a bit more real yesterday.
If you didn’t hear, the Blackberry tablet was officially announced. It will be called Playbook. I’d like to say here that I’m really glad it wasn’t named the often-rumored ‘BlackPad’. With that name, they might as well have called it ‘Our version of the iPad’. Playbook makes me think of a 'game plan'...never a bad thing. Anyway, with little to no true information leaked, it was hard to know what RIM’s, ahem, Playbook was for their new device. Would they go after the business market? Would it have a camera? Why would I want this thing?
That, too, became clearer yesterday. The Playbook seems to have taken all the negative press about the iPad and used it to develop their features. It is 0.4 inches (9.7 mm) thick, making it thinner than the iPad’s 0.5 inches. It will have two cameras, a 5-megapixel one at the back, and a 3-megapixel one at the front. It has a video-recording function. It’s half the weight of iPad, at just 0.9 lbs. It’s flash-friendly, provides multitasking capabilities, and supports 1080p HD video, giving users a ‘full Internet experience’. It also includes an HDMI video output and USB port. To top it off, it’s on a very cool new OS from QNX that promises to be way faster than anything out there. Playbook also adds credibility by targeting the business crowd, as shown in the video below. I mean, if it’s reliable enough to run a presentation, I can count on it to surf the web, right?
The way I see it, this could go two ways. 1) I get excited about all the features iPad doesn’t have and get the new Playbook and be totally happy with the decision, 2) I wait for Stevie Jobs to put his counter move in market with the 2nd generation iPad next year. Not that’s he’s announced his plan to do so…yet. ~ p
(Source: www.wired.com)
1 comment:
Hi Mark,
First Off, great article. I've heard the rumours about this device as well, and I even have a picture of it (probably a prototype version), and it has made me wonder as to RIM's ability to outshine Apple's device.
One important piece of information I noticed in the video is the user's ability to control the tablet from his Blackberry mobile. This connectivity allows RIM to compete with the iPhone's ability to connect to their Mac cousins. I believe that this functionality will be the most crucial to develop for the future.
Another element to consider is competition from HTC and possibly Samsung. Apple was the first to release, will RIM make it in second place, or fall behind yet again?
Keep up the creative thought!
Blair
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