RIM, Blackberry producer, has made the first move in 2012 in tablet wars.
Its Blackberry PlayBook is now available for $299 – that’s 50% off its regular price – but you can find it right now at $249.
The 16GB model originally shipped at $499, while the 32GB and 64GB versions initially listed at $599 and $699, respectively.
What’s in a PlayBook?
Right now, AFAIK, it’s the only tablet that’s running neither iOS or Android – so it’s the fourth tablet OS competitor on the market (so sorry for HP WebOS) considering Amazon’s own Kindle OS.
For $249 (street price) you’ll get a 7 inches colour display tablet @ 1024×600 pixels, 1 GB of RAM and 16- up to 64 GB of flash storage memory, GPS, Wi-Fi (b/g/n) all in a sleek package weighing in at 0.9 pounds.
You’ll get twin cameras, enough to record HD video and an HDMI output for connecting to a compatible HDTV or monitor and playing back Full HD 1080p video. It’s compatible with video encoded in H.264, MPEG4, and WMV formats.
Besides commont tablet browsing, it comes – how could you avoid this? – with a Blackberry-branded app store where you can find… you know the rest.
On the plus side is Adobe Flash 10.1 & Air support (that’s for some gaming).
There’s no 3G support although: RIM wants you to hook the PlayBook with a Blackberry (of course).
The catch: you’ll have to use a Blackberry phone to enable 3G browsing, syncing and app downloading while on the run – and out of any Wi-Fi coverage.
Could the PlayBook (and this RIM price slashing) survive in the tablet war?
Tablet arena isn’t for weak runners, last Xmas sales scored a hefty 13% of online purchases to iPhone & iPad iOS-based devices.
For more info about this market niche, CNet fully reports on production costs, cutting costs and market comparison.
Interested? Hurry up, the PlayBook sale end on February 4th!
Blackberry’s PlayBook is available now and the 16GB versione goes as low as $249.
[Via CNet news]