Uncategorized — Joe @ 11:27 am
RIM Unveils BlackBerry PlayBook
Gordon Brockhouse
During its BlackBerry 2010 DEVCON conference in San Francisco yesterday, Research in Motion showed its long-awaited answer to Apple’s wildly successful iPad tablet: the BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM expects to begin shipping its new tablet to retail outlets in the U.S. in early 2011, and roll it out to other markets in the second quarter.
Sporting a seven-inch 1,024×600-pixel screen, the PlayBook is a smaller, more portable device than the iPad. It’s lighter too: 400g compared to the iPad’s 680g. Another major difference is its support for Adobe’s multimedia plug-ins, including Flash, allowing it to display video and interactive content that’s off-limits to the iPad. Another feature present on the PlayBook but not on the iPad is built-in HD cameras: three-megapixel front-facing, five-megapixel rear-facing. Other features include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless networking Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and HDMI output.
One advantage Apple will have is a huge head start in apps. The PlayBook employs a new multi-tasking operating system, BlackBerry Tablet OS. RIM says it will release the BlackBerry Tablet OS Software Developers’ Kit “in the coming weeks.” Apple will also have an advantage in mobility, at least initially. The first PlayBook Tablets will be Wi-Fi only; RIM says it “intends to offer 3G and 4G models in the future.”
However, PlayBook users will be able to pair the tablet with BlackBerry smartphones using a secure Bluetooth connection. That will give them wireless connectivity, and the ability to access e-mail, BlackBerry Messenger, calendar, tasks, documents and other BlackBerry content from the PlayBook. They can also use the tablet and smartphone interchangeably without syncing or duplicating data. That capability, and the fact that the PlayBook incorporates BlackBerry’s security features, will give RIM’s tablet an important advantage over Apple in the enterprise market, RIM maintains.
