After showcasing their Blackberry Torch, it looks like the smartphone giant has decided against calling their tablet “blackpad” (which was a stupid name truthfully) and has instead embraced Playbook. Yes, seriously.
The tablet thus far seems eerily familiar to the iPad, although unlike Steve Jobs greatest creation the Playbook can view flash websites which should make up for RIM’s anemic app store.
It also boasts a 3 MP front facing camera (note: iPad 2.0 will probably receive this as well), as well as a 5 MP rear camera which should help give the Playbook some distinction in the tablet wars.
Unlike the iPad however, I’m seeing no mention of a built in 3G service, although they do say you will need a Blackberry smartphone if you want to surf the net outside of WiFi.
Either way it’s smart that RIM is debuting the Playbook now before the world goes ga-ga over the iPad this holiday season.
Note: Unfortunately for HP, Playbook’s debut makes it all the harder for them to make a webOS comeback with PalmPad (although their HP Slate should keep the company relevant through 2011).
Originally posted on September 27, 2010 @ 6:28 pm