Canada Born RIM Launching 7-inch BlackBerry Tablet In Own Backyard On April 10th?
Posted on 12. Mar, 2011 by TabletMan in Tablets
Research In Motion (RIM) has a 7-inch tablet of their very own, their first, coming to market soon in the sub-$500 price range. How soon you ask? Well if some new evidence pans out the tablet would start shipping on April 10th to Sears Canada pre-order customers and for the U.S. if some other new evidence pans out the tablet would come to Staples stores on April 17th.
The 7-inch tablet is of course the BlackBerry PlayBook and it has been one of those products that could have really benefited from a firm release date at launch. The PlayBook has had countless rumors about release dates but RIM themselves have been almost silent on that matter. After the announcement event for the PlayBook in late September 2010 where RIM reps. said the tablet would come in early 2011 company officials have only clarified that RIM will launch their tablet in Q1 of 2011.
Even though rumors aren’t what you really want, some of them are starting to make some sense and sound legit. For example earlier last month some info was posted that said the PlayBook would start showing up on April 10th and presto some evidence (see below) shows up today that Sears Canada would be shipping any pre-orders on April 10th. That’s not all either, the other new evidence for today (also see below) shows the PlayBook coming to Staples stores on the 17th of April and that’s only 7 days past the previously mentioned April 10th date.
It’s worth mentioning that all of the dates mentioned in this post do align with RIM’s own Q1 of 2011 estimate on availability for the tablet. It’s also worth mentioning that the just the other day the PlayBook made it’s presence known at the FCC in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB Wi-Fi only models. The product page for the PlayBook on Sears Canada’s site is available here (no pre-orders being taken yet).
Sears evidence:
Staples evidence:
Via 1 and 2
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14 Responses to “Canada Born RIM Launching 7-inch BlackBerry Tablet In Own Backyard On April 10th?”
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Ed Nonymous
12. Mar, 2011
$500 for a 7-inch tablet?
No thanks…. why bother when the iPad is a 10-inch device starting at about the same price?
mike
13. Mar, 2011
Im waiting for the playbook 7 inch because I like the size better than the massive ipad.Easier to carry.
Faster Bunny
12. Mar, 2011
Playbook is already a lost case and a price tag of $550 kills it before the launch. Ipad and Samsung Galaxy are good enough for tablet seekers. Many cheap unbranded for those who don’t want to spend more. RIM is responsible for its own downfall. Too little too late. Storm, Storm-2 and now Playbook
Greg
12. Mar, 2011
Size doesn’t matter, quality does. I will take a 7 imch tablet which can run flash content and multi task with multiple apps open seamlessly. Oh and did I mention the Playbook has a better operating system and I hate Apple. Yup, I am not an apple drone, I buy the best product available and not what Apple tries to shove down my throat, which is always an inferior product that simply has a name attached to it…
respighifan
12. Mar, 2011
You’d bother because the Playbook more than compensates for it’s 3″ less through its (a) performance specs and (b) the savings offered by being able to tether to your existing Berry…
Not sure I like the way the first part of my reply sounds, but anyways…
Carl
12. Mar, 2011
I would rather carry a rope instead of an anchor. 7″ is fine for my wife too.
John
12. Mar, 2011
Too little too late
Terry Mulcahy
12. Mar, 2011
I am evaluating a Samsung Galaxy Tab that I got a super deal on. At this point I can say that I like the high quality of manufacture and robustness but otherwise not really sold on the functionality.
Finding “an app for that” is a huge waste of time and detracts from the device’s usefulness.
I like that the Playbook can run off of my Blackberry’s data plan so will not have to sign up for yet another 3G connection (this for people who are too busy to sit around wi-fi coffee shops).
I also like that the Galaxy tab (gen 1) and Playbook can fit in a jacket pocket – a huge benefit for anyone in a “suit.”
Mark Davies
12. Mar, 2011
“$500 for a 7-inch tablet? No thanks…. why bother when the iPad is a 10-inch device starting at about the same price?”
Because a 7-inch tablet is a better size for users who value portability? (It slips easily into a jacket pocket.) Mark Zuckerberg recently described a 10-inch tablet thusly: “iPad’s not mobile. Next question.”
How about because it’s a much better device in terms of specifications and user interface?
Steve Jobs has done his best to draw attention away from the iPad 2′s rather prosaic specs by focusing attention on the elusive “experience”. That was a huge mistake — the PlayBook offers a vastly improved user experience. I recommend that you check out some videos of RIM’s new tablet in action. It’s absolutely astonishing.
That said, it’s clear that the PlayBook puts the iPad to shame. RIM has not only put together the ultimate tablet for business, it has the power and flexibility to significantly outshine the iPad 2 as an entertainment device.
The $500 price-tag almost seems ridiculously low when you consider it in light of other offerings (7-inch or otherwise). RIM has truly set a new standard for tablets with the PlayBook.
I expect Apple to imitate its feature set and user interface in the iPad 3. That is, if they want to maintain more than a fraction of the tablet market.
Murky Waters
12. Mar, 2011
Playbook has Flash….Ipad doesn’t. Good enough reason for me to go with Playbook.
Mike
13. Mar, 2011
Mr. Jobs deserves an applause for opening up a new market. PlayBook is just a copy cat. They did not invent, they just copied.
Calgary Painters
13. Mar, 2011
I am looking forward to it. I owned an iPad 16g WiFi 3G and HATED it. No flash support was the biggest issue when browsing. Safari is also a horrible browser on iPad and a lot of sites did not display correctly. Also have a 7 inch Android Apad I picked up for $100 and that is just crap.
PlayBook has support for flash and a webcam so it already is a step ahead.
Mark
14. Mar, 2011
Flash support matters less and less with every passing day. If you own an iPad, you know this. Like it or not, the web is adapting to the iPad, not the other way around. It must be really difficult for Apple haters to admit Jobs was right on HTML5.
I used my Blackberry Playbook to post this comment. No wait. DON’T GET EXCITED. That isn’t completely accurate. You see, I got a piece of cardboard, drew some rectangles on it, and then framed it with electrical tape. I announced I was going to do this about 7 months ago. Unfortunately it wasn’t functional, so I sold it to come kid outside. At least I beat RIM to market.
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