[Scougar]

It's a shame about the Playbook, but the fact is, the hardware is out of date. A V2 playbook would be a blessing, although the current price of the "massaged" Playbook (Cellular version @ 1.5Ghz instead of 1Ghz for standard playbook) is WAYYYY overpriced. I could be Blackberry to the core, and still realise that it's a shoddy deal when other better specced hardware is available (on competing platforms unfortunately). I'm darn glad I picked up a 64GB one whilst I could in the UK the other day... and hope that in the future they don't go overboard on prices IF they release another tablet.

[luke.trevorrow]

and it's said (various sources have mentioned it) that it actually outsold the iPad over the Christmas period in the UK

N4BB posted a link about that not long ago BlackBerry PlayBook Outsells Apple iPad in the UK - N4BB

[Hambone678]

I bought one on eBay for $169.99 recently from a Canadian vendor (I live in Canada also). That was the only place I could find a brand new one for sale. All the stores were sold out or had discontinued it.

[lcjr]

Blackberry CEO told his folks to look into another tablet, but only if it can make money. The focus is on the software with expectations of mobile computing. From another briefing he gave, the vision is sitting down with your Z device, plug into a dock and be up and running using cloud services. The user would just need the monitor and keyboard to do work or play. I think the updated Playbook with BB10 software will make the experience a little better, but serious improvements need to be implemented if they want to develop another tablet. All this is my opinion though, but based on what I've been reading it seems pretty close to reality.

[shampZ10]

Phones 4 u offered a free PlayBook on first 250 orders of z10 I'm waiting for my pb currently but have confirmation email to say it's on its way

[RubberChicken76]

It's worth mentioning again] that a newer PlayBook was released this past August, running at 1.5 GHZ and sporting LTE, but only in 32 GB form. But as Thorsten noted in the earnings call, they are more focused on selling it to corporations than at retail. He also mentioned that the PlayBook inventory is 'substantially improved'. They may very well be getting light on inventory and doing only small efforts to distribute, focusing energy on the phones.

But let's not assume RIM has discontinued the PlayBook line altogether ...

[Angus_CB]

I posted this in the last 2 or 3 threads that asked the same question.
The 64GB Playbook is available in Canada from TigerDirect for $229.97.

[Enyigma]

Interesting television interview with Thorsten Heins on CTV's Canada AM this morning. Though coy on precise plans, Mr. Heins stated he was "excited" about the sales of the BlackBerry Z10 so far. He also stated that the next device to be released is already in full development. Perhaps this is to be the successor to the PlayBook in which case continuing with the distribution of the current PlayBook makes sense if only to provide a test bed for concepts to be included in the new device. Certainly, this dovetails with the plan for the Blackforest device that shows up on the leaked BlackBerry plan for the coming months.

His short term vision is to re-establish a high visibility in the premium device market (hence the high price point we are seeing). From there, he would like to then offer different solutions to different market segments.

Longer term, Mr. Heins is looking to the "Internet of things", that will turn the BlackBerry phone (and perhaps other devices) into true mobile computing devices that will connect to just about anything.

Given the number of devices out there from cars to controlling systems to medical devices that already run on QNX, this vision seems to be closer to reality than many might think.

Bottom line, I think BlackBerry will continue to distribute the PlayBook for now, likely only in the 32GB 4G/4G LTE forms and perhaps with the BB10 OS already installed perhaps so they can be sold at a higher price point. We might get lucky and still be able to get the 16, 32 & 64 GB WiFi versions too.

As to what is happening at a lot of retailers in Canada, BlackBerry itself shows a list of current retailers that do not include Future Shop or Best Buy. Their list of current sellers for WiFi only versions includes London Drugs (western Canada), The Source and Staples. A few carriers are also listed such as WIND and Rogers. The 4G/4G LTE version is available at three carriers only: Bell, Rogers and Telus. The fact that Future Shop and Best Buy unloaded their remaining inventory of devices and accessories says nothing more than they are no longer carrying the product, not that the PlayBook has been discontinued.

[playbook_newbie]

Where I am in the UK thousands (this aint no BS) have been off-loaded to an auction site they have been auctioning loads of 64gb units going on average about �50 - �58 the 32gb and 16gb even less, this has been happening every week since Christmas (before Christmas they were reaching between �70 - �80) I dont know where they are getting them from but it is starting to worry me that someone somewhere knows something about the Playbook and off loading their stock at what could be less than dealer buying prices.

When PCWorld were selling 64gb for �129 they were going out the doors like s**t of a shovel now its difficult to source a playbook in PCWorld branches if I was more confident about the playbook still being supported or even getting BB10 I would buy a few for re-sale but as it stands its just not worth the financial risk.

I'm still happy with the Playbooks I do have but would feel better knowing what the future holds for the Playbook.

[Enyigma]

Auction houses get what supply chain institutions / warehouses try to unload. If the stores they sold to no longer carry the product and they have no authorized buyers, then they will try to unload remaining stock at auction. Remaining inventory could be so small in quantity that it makes no sense to try and set up a contract with an authorized reseller. It wold make more sense to sell off the remaining quantity at auction.

Remember that these prices are wholesale and not retail. The bulk buyers still have to sell at retail and will need some margin to make money.

[kbz1960]

This is what I can find and it's old. They did cut way back, back then.

Quanta Computer cuts 1,000 jobs at Taiwan-based BlackBerry PlayBook manufacturing plant; RIM sitting on 800,000 unsold units | CrackBerry.com

[RubberChicken76]

Thanks, though this is exactly what I'm getting at. Look at how it's written:

- "I peg the active BlackBerry PlayBook user base to be somewhere at or around the 200,000 mark"
- "based on CrackBerry intuition"
- "news coming from industry sources has RIM's unsold BlackBerry PlayBook inventory pile looking even larger."
- "An analyst from Fubon Securities reported that RIM's supplier, Quanta Computer, had shipped some 1.5 million PlayBooks to RIM in the first half of the year."
- "While Quanta wouldnt discuss the exact numbers or clients, the word is"

It's complete speculation. Even if it's an educated guess, nothing in here came from RIM. It came from others guessing. Nor does it say RIM discontinued the PlayBook altogether, planned to discontinue the PlayBook altogether, stopped production altogether or abandoned the PlayBook.

Also, if Quanta shipped 1.5 million, RIM's already burned through that and had more built as they had shipped 2 million by the beginning at the end of last November.

[BelieverX]

Here in Germany you can get the Playbook on Amazon. Prices below.

16GB - 240 Euros (why does the 16GB version cost more than the others?)
32GB - 170 Euros
64GB - 206 Euros

32GB 3G+ - 536 Euros (That price is ridiculous...what does it cost to install a mini cell phone in a Playbook? You can get a good used BB smartphone for a hundred Euros, and then just use Bridge to access the internet.)

[RubberChicken76]

32GB 3G+ - 536 Euros (That price is ridiculous...what does it cost to install a mini cell phone in a Playbook?

Probably not tons. Looking at it differently, what is the cost of purchasing and assembling all components of PlayBook ... regardless of what it sells for?

[cwericb]

There seems to be a recurring question here and elsewhere from a few people as to if BB-10 will come to the Playbook. The simple answer to that is yes. Blackberry (specifically Hines) announced that BB-10 will come as an update to existing Playbooks. However, no date was given.

[untakenusername]

Probably not tons. Looking at it differently, what is the cost of purchasing and assembling all components of PlayBook ... regardless of what it sells for?

I don't know. What do you think it is?

[soulbat25]

None or very few of the major retailers seem to have any Playbooks 16/32/64 in stock and the ones that I have spoken with say it is discontinued and they will not be re-ordering.
So has it been completely abandoned? Is it undergoing an upgrade to more RAM and BB10? Does anyone know what is going on? I have a 16 gb and love it. Want more memory and a spare.

Amazon has the 16g for 166
32g for 172
64g for 230 as of today.
The stock must be good. Usually if there is only a few items left in stock it tells me.
Just a heads up.
G0 PLAYBOOK!

[hreiner1]

"We all know the production of the PB had stopped already last year"

That is the first I have heard of this. Yes, an announcement was made that production of the 16gb model was discontinued. But where did you hear that the 32 & 64 was discontinued?

Bro- Please use some common sense
the PB64 costs about $230 or more to produce, so when you sell it for the same price you loose money
I have never heard from any company that they would produce more of this product so they can sell it as an loss, and loose even more money
RIM - Blackberry wrote off all the PB inventory begin of 2012 and started the sell-off
The PB stock what you see now is just shifting around from various warehouses

so simple, if it does not sell - you don't produce more to loose more

[NursingNinja]

I do think the original playbook did very poorly, but to be fair so did every other tablet except for the ipad and the kindle fire. So dont be too hard on them! In fact from what I heard they sold a heck of alot more playbooks than samsung sold of their galaxy tablets. Not that either did well, but might as well rub it in their faces, why not!

Discontinued or not the better question is what is their support likely to be for the future? The answer is that it depends on Blackberry 10. If Blackberry 10 does well then we will see more tablets in the future based off this OS and more apps and more support. There will be a Playbook 2 and 3 and they will do better and sell stronger. There will be 10" versions and 7" versions and phones of all kinds and sizes and it will be great. If Blackberry 10 flounders then this will not happen and we will all end up on other products in the next few years, sad but true. Good news is at the moment things are looking up from what I can see!

[cwericb]

hreiner1
You are speculating. You may be 100% right - but you are still just guessing.
BB made an announcement some time ago that they were discontinuing the 16gb.
What I was asking was if anyone has heard of any announcement that they were going to, or have, stopped production of the Playbook entirely.
Apparently there has been no official announcement, so I am wondering if anyone knows if Playbooks are still being manufactured and shipped?

[kbz1960]

Why don't one of you twitter people tweet someone and ask?

[RubberChicken76]

Bro- Please use some common sense

Please stop expressing your guesses as facts.

the PB64 costs about $230 or more to produce

According to whom? When was the teardown down? Have the components dropped in price? As many are fond of pointing out, the hardware is almost two years old.

RIM - Blackberry wrote off all the PB inventory begin of 2012 and started the sell-off

Actually they wrote down (ie. reduced the value). Wrote off is saying they'll get nothing for it. As for "all of the inventory", they wrote down what they had at that time. Unless you've seen their production lines, let's not assume what they've built since.

The PB stock what you see now is just shifting around from various warehouses

Didn't know you worked in operations at RIM or Quanta ...

Man, I really wish people would stop stating their guesses as though they are facts.

[kraschute]

Actually you get the 64GB version at a lot of places for 170 EUR (in Germany)! But I agree that the 3g variant is ridicilously overpriced! Max. I would pay for it is 250 EUR!

[uncle_numpty]

64gb's going for 80 to 90 gbp on ebay at the moment as bankrupt stock with 2 month warranty.

Might pick a few more myself.

If only dock pods were cheap in the uK

[hreiner1]

No. An analyst guessed that it is out of production. Let's not mistake rumours for facts please. It could very well be, but unless you're sitting in RIM's production facilities and have looked at the production logs, let's stop spreading speculation as though it's the gospel truth.

Enough of this around here already.

RIM may write off its inventory, report says | Mobile - CNET News
PlayBook writeoff means RIM's tablet has been a $1.5bn mistake | Technology | guardian.co.uk
RIM PlayBook sales hurt earnings targets - Business - CBC News

Has RIM halted production of the PlayBook? | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News
RIM's cuts at PlayBook factory point to huge inventory backlog | Technology | guardian.co.uk

http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-Costs-$201-70-to-Manufacture.aspx
cost for 8gb Kindle Fire is about $200





16 GB was sold out. RIM has made no other announcements on the older 32 GB Wifi, 64 GB Wifi or the newer 1.5 GHZ LTE device released last august. Again, let's not speculate on what they do or don't have in stock.