RIM Offers a Glimpse of Its PlayBook

Event Summary

September 27, 2010 - Research In Motion (RIM) unveiled its new professional-grade BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry Tablet OS, built upon the QNX Neutrino microkernel architecture. The PlayBook has a 7” screen, 1 GHz dual core processor, WiFi, an HTML browser with Adobe Flash 10.1 and seamless connectivity with BlackBerry smartphones over Bluetooth. The PlayBook will be available in early 2011; no pricing was provided.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on RIM’s PlayBook launch, not because of the tablet – details on that are far too sketchy to provide reasonable analysis – but because of the QNX-based Tablet OS it runs. RIM’s dual challenges have been apps and UI. QNX gives RIM the opportunity to design a UI from the ground up with entertainment and finger navigation in mind, and gives software developers a new platform to target complete with new tools and application frameworks. The tablet looks very pretty in photos and real life, but we know very little about it other than hardware specs, and even some of those (e.g., battery life, storage) are being kept under wraps. RIM will have to maintain interest in BlackBerry despite a long gestation time for its tablet and even longer timetable for upgrading its smartphones.

• Vendor Importance: Very high to RIM which is not only entering the new tablet product category, but is also setting the direction for its smartphones for the next half decade or longer.

• Market Impact: Moderate on smartphones and personal connected devices, because the PlayBook will not reach the market until sometime in 2011, and RIM has given even less of an indication as to when QNX-based smartphones will appear. Still, the PlayBook could be a credible competitor to the iOS, Android, webOS and Windows 7 tablets coming to market, and the promise of a robust mobile OS across tablets and handsets should energize application developers who have never given RIM the attention it deserves – and badly needs.

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