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Research in Motion's 7-Inch 'PlayBook' Tablet to Target Business Users

I love my iPad, but this is cool too. I will stay tuned.
Hardware specs are gorgeous, except for the 7". On my iPad, surfing the web on a 9.7" display is awesome. I never have to pinch to zoom in and zoom out.

On a 7", it would be a pain to surf.
 
I hope the PlayBook succeeds, at the very least in enterprise. Could care less about those who jeer at BB for not innovating. It should be enough that they create a competitive tablet. It will hopefully spur the next innovation and get Apple to push their updates out quicker as more tablet present more features (cameras, etc)

This tablet market should be very exciting in 2011.
 
Wow this makes the iPad look really old and toy-like.

At 7 inches, it's also a lot more practical
 
The "competition is good" spam is getting very, *very* tired. Quit it.

Yes, the OS does look very nice. I'll see how it actually performs in the real world before I pass judgment.
 
marco114 said:
They are targeting business and the first things they show are digital camera, photos, music, then they show a boring business office for like 5 seconds and it doesn't even have the pad in the shot, next thing you see is it playing NHL sports in a flash player on vemo, a park bench reading books, more youtube, flicker, chatting on AOL or something... yah, such a business device!

"the first multiprocessing".. then "multitasking", tricky way implying they are the first, but they aren't. then it's called the PLAY book.

I'm confused on their message.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that "business-friendly" basically means that is has options to keep your data encrypted on the device so nobody can get at your confidential intellectual property and trade secrets. Other than that it definitely looked all-play (except for the presentation it was running).

Must say I would like the ability to encrypt data for certain apps on my iPhone. Their promo definitely fails to convey why its good for business users -- that's for sure.

But like folks have said, the hardware specs look great, but what you do with that hardware is what matters. They will be up against iPad-2 next year and only owners of BB smartphones can get truly mobile internet access on these things (don't see people jumping to switch to BB smartphones).

My best guess.... they announced it now so BB smartphone users have less incentive to jump ship to iPhone and iPad -- this is a stop-loss attempt. RIM lacks the mindshare Apple commands right now. Even my older neighbors across the street (they are great-grand parents) just bought an iPad because they liked mine so much. Apple just has that appeal with their ease-of-use -- people recognize and know how to use their products from beginners to experts, old and young.

This PlayBook fits a niche in the tablet market -- this is great for BB smartphone users.
 
Play?

I guess we just have to wait. The advert is very slick but not much hands on with the actual product going on there. Key features not mentioned, to me, would be price and battery life - hey maybe it's user swappable? Naaaa.
I think it can be said that this new product as defined originally by Apple i.e. in-between the iPhone & Laptop is really going to take off with some great innovation - not just a desktop OS poured into a keyboard-less touch screen device.

I find it strange that at the end, when they are throwing nouns around, they use the word Professional - but they have named their product PLAY. They are aiming this directly at the business end of the market aren't they, it's not a consumer product as such?

What OS does this run and it mentions apps, where do these come from - i don't know a lot about Blackberry stuff.
 
RT2020 said:
Wow this makes the iPad look really old and toy-like.

At 7 inches, it's also a lot more practical
Click to expand...

Obviously a lot more practical, but surfing the web on a 7" would be a pain. You would have always to zoom in and out.
 
Geezus, could they have at least made it look a little less like the ipad.. and if the user experience is anything like the torch then this thing is trash.
 
Curious that everyone is coming out with 7"'ers. I assume it's related to price and battery performance. I'm a bit ambivalent about all these 7" tablets (including the rumored 7" ipad). It seems to me that if it isn't a phone form factor, then the penalty for 10" isn't much greater than for 7", either way I have to carry it around somehow. Perhaps for women it does make a bigger deal since you may be able to fit a 7"'er in your purse whereas an ipad just wouldn't fit (for most anyway). But really, as a somewhat replacement for an actual laptop, it's hard to imagine the current crop of 7" tablets really being all that intriguing.

I'm just waiting for the next gen ipad with lighter carbon fibre body and a decent way to rig up a firewire connection and I'll be happy.
 
Blackberry and HD? WOW! I am ready for the Torch 2 with a high resolution screen and improved specs. I love my Torch now, but I am amazed at Blackberry FINALLY putting HD screens on their products...phones are next! Niiice!

And who cares about apps? Its for targeted for BUSINESS users. Sorry, we don't have time to play games. Business apps are just fine.

7" is a perfect size. I hear the iPad is coming in 7" next year.
 
smiddlehurst said:
2) The processor is.. interesting. Assuming that this is scheduled for the first half of 2011 (surely it must be if they're showing it now) then dual core A9's aren't far away. If the iPad is indeed on a yearly cycle and the new one rocks up in April 2011 then its getting increasingly likely it may be packing something similar to the Playbook. Considering iOS isn't exactly a slouch on the current generation that could be a major jump forward, especially if Apple can incorporate Grand Central (or a derivative) into iOS.
Click to expand...

Grand Central Dispatch was listed as a new feature of iOS 4 in the developer guide.
 
RT2020 said:
Wow this makes the iPad look really old and toy-like.

At 7 inches, it's also a lot more practical
Click to expand...

Did you see the same promo I did? Didn't RIM just validate and imitate iPad? Their promo did not show this thing doing anything iPad could not (except for Flash -- multitasking is coming in 2 months to iPad). And even those things they showed it doing are just hints that it might be able to do the things iPad can do. iPad has been doing those things for almost a year.

Unless you are referring to hardware specs.... even so, you can't really compare yet because in all likelihood Apple will have a new iPad before the Playbook ever sees the light of day.

"Old and toy-like" seems like a strange impression to me based on the promo I saw of some product to be released at some undisclosed future date in 2011 at some unknown price with some unknown battery life and small selection of apps. Reminds of the folks touting "iPad sucks, just wait for the MS Courier or the HP Slate" before HP and MS threw in the towel on those projects.
 
Playbook? Not exactly inspiring for Business user name wise.

However the hardware specs are very nice and frankly I expect Apples rev two to be similar.
 
bitWrangler said:
I'm just waiting for the next gen ipad with lighter carbon fibre body and a decent way to rig up a firewire connection and I'll be happy.
Click to expand...

I hope its not that much lighter i bang mine against stuff all the time but you cant tell because its sturdy.
 
How can a professional tablet be name PLAYbook? :(

Other than that it’s looking sweet. The lack of apps and games will have to be rewarded by a low entry price hopefully.
 
OMG, they're advertising Flash support as a feature, how cute is that?
 
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