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Blackberry Playbook To Developers: Do You Have An App For Us?

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After bribing developers with the chance to win a free Blackberry Playbook, RIM is finally allowing them to submit their apps for approval upon the Blackberry App World.

We’re excited to announce that starting today, you can now submit your BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet apps to the BlackBerry App World™ vendor portal!

As announced at the Adobe® MAX conference earlier this year, developers who create an application for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that is approved for distribution through BlackBerry App World prior to the tablet’s initial release are eligible for a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. you’re submitting a brand new app, just submit like you would any new app. (Blackberry Developer’s Blog)

After less than thrilling sales of the Blackberry Torch, RIM has been making a huge deal regarding the Blackberry Playbook which they see as their answer to the mighty iPad.

Despite the fact that the Playbook is Flash friendly (unlike the iPad), Blackberry is going to need an army of developers in order to make their brand relevant to consumers as well as the corporate world.

RIM is planning on launching the Playbook “early 2011” (which ironically is around the same time as the rumored iPad 2.0) although the company has yet to announce a price point aside from the corporate sub-$500 mantra.

Note: I suspect the price will fall between $450-$499, but RIM has yet to confirm anything.

Originally posted on December 7, 2010 @ 2:18 pm

Apple’s iPad Vs RIM’s Playbook: Which Is Better?

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After Steve Jobs publicly dissed the Blackbery smartphones, RIM has not surprisingly gone after the iPad in an attempt to prove to companies and consumers that their Playbook is indeed superior to Apple’s “magical” device.

I know many of you are eager to see more of the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ in action. I’m excited to share the above video with you that we filmed with Matthew from the web browser group here at RIM, which demonstrates how the web browsing experience is coming together on the PlayBook.

On the video, Matthew quickly runs through a series of comparison tests with a PlayBook and iPad (running iOS 3.2.2), which demonstrate three things: the speed of the PlayBook Browser, its support for rich Adobe® Flash® content, and the performance of open web standards like HTML 5 on the PlayBook. (Inside Blackberry)

As you can see in the video above, the very fact that RIM supports flash is probably enough to convince a few individuals the superiority of the Playbook (which is rumored to be priced at $500).

However RIM’s open war against the iPad might be a mistake for a few reasons, one which their own video demonstrates above. [Read more…]

Originally posted on November 16, 2010 @ 2:05 pm

Blackberry Torch: What’s Black And White And Red All Over?

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After launching the Blackberry Torch to the masses, RIM is now allowing new users to purchase their premier smartphone in two additional colors.

However the best news may not be the ability to purchase the device in a different skin, but also at a different price as well.

Best of all, the price has dropped from the original $200 down to just $99 for both the black and the coloured versions. Of course, you’ve been able to pick it up from places other than AT&T for that price for quite some time now, but an AT&T price drop may just mean you can find it for even less elsewhere. (MobileCrunch) [Read more…]

Originally posted on November 8, 2010 @ 2:01 pm

Would You Buy A Blackberry Playbook For $500?

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After showing off Blackberry’s answer to the iPad, RIM is reportedly considering selling the Playbook below $500 USD in an attempt to give their tablet some leverage against Apple.

Research In Motion Ltd., moving into the tablet-computer market for the first time, said it will begin selling its BlackBerry PlayBook for less than $500, suggesting RIM may try to undercut Apple Inc.’s iPad. […]

RIM may sell the Playbook through retail stores of Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. in the U.S. as well through carriers, Balsillie said.

“Looking at both channels is the likely target,” he said. (Business Week)

The reduced price makes sense considering that the Blackberry Playbook is much smaller than the iPad, which means that users will have less screen real estate to navigate (giving RIM’s tablet a more “crowded” feeling).

In order to remain competative against Apple, RIM may have to reduce the Playbook’s price by at least $100 in order to convince customers to even consider their tablet, especially considering the fact that the Playbook will only tether with Blackberry devices.

Ironically Blackberry Playbook’s success may depend upon the slew of Android tablets that will be hitting stores for the holiday season, whose prices could undercut RIM and make their cherished tablet irrelevant in the eyes of users.

(Hat Tip: Daring Fireball)

Originally posted on November 10, 2010 @ 2:49 pm

RIM Offering Free Blackberry Playbook’s To Developers?

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After rebutting Steve Jobs for dismissing Blackberry as a serious mobile contender, Mike Lazaridis (co-CEO of RIM) made a surprising announcement after publicly demoing the Blackberry Playbook abilities (which appears at the end of this video).

RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis showcased some amazing BlackBerry PlayBook apps yesterday at the Adobe MAX conference with Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe. The above video highlights some of what Mike and Kevin demoed during the keynote, such as the BlackBerry PlayBook’s multimedia capabilities (including web based videos using Adobe Flash), multitasking and the eUnity healthcare application. All apps demoed during the keynote were built by developers working with the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR as part of an early access program. (Blackberry Developer Blog)

Although this move may help the company acquire some developer mind share, its still unclear whether consumers themselves will leap at the chance of owning a Blackberry Tablet, despite the fact that it supports flash (unlike the iPad).

While allowing developers to keep a Blackberry Playbook is a smart move for RIM (as it will help grow RIM’s anemic app store), the company may want to consider allowing developers to “borrow” a Playbook in order to test out their apps (as simulations can only take you so far).

Either way it’s great to see RIM actually demo the device in public, although only time will tell whether the Playbook will help revive RIM’s app store (which currently pales in comparison to Apple’s iPad app store).

Originally posted on October 26, 2010 @ 1:59 pm