The BlackBerry PlayBook has finally received an official release date and price tag for North America.
RIM today officially announced the BlackBerry PlayBook release date for North America: April 19. The BlackBerry QNX-based tablet will be offered by more than 20,000 retail outlets throughout the U.S. and Canada. The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available in three models, costing $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB) and $699 (64GB).
The BlackBerry PlayBook is scheduled to be available from all Best Buy stores and Best Buy Mobile stores in the U.S., as well as Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada, on April 19. Pre-orders are starting in these stores today, as well as online.
"Previews of the BlackBerry PlayBook have generated tremendous excitement and we know that customers are eager to get their hands on one," said Craig McLennan, Regional Managing Director, North America, RIM. "We share that excitement and we are very pleased to announce that customers can begin placing their orders with Best Buy today."
"The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet that is already being widely praised as a multi-tasking powerhouse with an uncompromised Web experience and an ultra-portable design," said Mike Lazaridis, President & Co-CEO, RIM. "Given the high level of customer interest in the BlackBerry PlayBook, we are particularly pleased to be working with such an amazing lineup of retail partners."
"Tablets are becoming a bigger part of our business everyday and the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook will heighten the level of excitement in this category," said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile. "RIM has a tremendous history of producing great mobility products for our customers and we are excited to help launch the BlackBerry PlayBook."
RIM today officially announced the BlackBerry PlayBook release date for North America: April 19. The BlackBerry QNX-based tablet will be offered by more than 20,000 retail outlets throughout the U.S. and Canada. The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available in three models, costing $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB) and $699 (64GB).
The BlackBerry PlayBook is scheduled to be available from all Best Buy stores and Best Buy Mobile stores in the U.S., as well as Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada, on April 19. Pre-orders are starting in these stores today, as well as online.
"Previews of the BlackBerry PlayBook have generated tremendous excitement and we know that customers are eager to get their hands on one," said Craig McLennan, Regional Managing Director, North America, RIM. "We share that excitement and we are very pleased to announce that customers can begin placing their orders with Best Buy today."
"The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet that is already being widely praised as a multi-tasking powerhouse with an uncompromised Web experience and an ultra-portable design," said Mike Lazaridis, President & Co-CEO, RIM. "Given the high level of customer interest in the BlackBerry PlayBook, we are particularly pleased to be working with such an amazing lineup of retail partners."
"Tablets are becoming a bigger part of our business everyday and the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook will heighten the level of excitement in this category," said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile. "RIM has a tremendous history of producing great mobility products for our customers and we are excited to help launch the BlackBerry PlayBook."
BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry Tablet OS
The BlackBerry PlayBook is an ultra-thin device, yet RIM has made very few compromises when creating its next-generation BlackBerry experience. The BlackBerry PlayBook is powered by the new BlackBerry Tablet OS.
The QNX Neutrino microkernel architecture which the OS is built upon, promises exceptional performance, high scalability, Common Criteria EAL 4+ security, and support for industry standard tools that are already familiar to hundreds of thousands of developers.
The OS is fully POSIX compliant enabling easy portability of C-based code, supports OpenGL for 2D and 3D graphics intensive applications like gaming, and will run applications built in Adobe Mobile AIR as well as the new BlackBerry WebWorks app platform announced today (which will allow apps to be written to run on BlackBerry PlayBook tablets as well as BlackBerry smartphones with BlackBerry 6). The BlackBerry Tablet OS will also support Java, enabling developers to easily bring their existing BlackBerry 6 Java applications to the BlackBerry Tablet OS environment.
BlackBerry Integration
For those BlackBerry PlayBook users who carry a BlackBerry smartphone, it'll be possible to pair their tablet and smartphone using a secure Bluetooth connection. According to RIM, this enables users to use the larger tablet display to seamlessly and securely view any of the e-mail, BBM, calendar, tasks, documents and other content that resides on (or is accessible through) their smartphone. Users can also use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data. This secure integration of BlackBerry tablets and smartphones is a particularly useful feature for those business users who want to leave their laptop behind.
This BlackBerry integration also means that the BlackBerry PlayBook is enterprise ready and compatible (out-of-the-box) with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. When connected over Bluetooth, the smartphone content is viewable on the tablet, but the content actually remains stored on the BlackBerry smartphone and is only temporarily cached on the tablet (and subject to IT policy controls). With this approach to information security, IT departments can deploy the BlackBerry PlayBook to employees out-of-the-box without worrying about all the security and manageability issues that arise when corporate data is stored on yet another device.
High-End Web Browsing and Multimedia Performance
The BlackBerry PlayBook supports Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR and HTML5, ultimately delivering an uncompromised Web experience that lets users enjoy all of the sites, games and media on the Web.
The BlackBerry PlayBook offers high-end multimedia features, including dual HD cameras for video capture and video conferencing that can both record HD video at the same time, and an HDMI-out port for presenting one's creations on external displays. The BlackBerry PlayBook also offers rich stereo sound and a media player that rivals the best in the industry.
BlackBerry PlayBook Specs
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