[sasquatch99]

PB prices have gone up to 299/399/499 at SBB Canada. In the US, you have 2 more days @ 199/249/299.

[swyost]

Too bad. At those prices, much of the sales interest they have generated will almost certainly fall away. It is simply not possible to sell it for more than the competition, even if people here don't think the competition is worth much. The competition, of course, being Android tablets, not the iPad. I really have to wonder if there is any genuine leadership within RIM at this point. They are about to release the new OS, so what do you do? Let's raise the price in advance. I have a feeling that by this time next year, people here will be in the same boat as users of the HP TouchPad. The Playbook is stil a very useful piece of mobile technology, but RIM seems to be doing its best to kill it misstep by misstep....

[kb5zht]

Too bad. At those prices, much of the sales interest they have generated will almost certainly fall away. It is simply not possible to sell it for more than the competition, even if people here don't think the competition is worth much. The competition, of course, being Android tablets, not the iPad. I really have to wonder if there is any genuine leadership within RIM at this point. They are about to release the new OS, so what do you do? Let's raise the price in advance. I have a feeling that by this time next year, people here will be in the same boat as users of the HP TouchPad. The Playbook is stil a very useful piece of mobile technology, but RIM seems to be doing its best to kill it misstep by misstep....

Im with you. They really should have waited for the OS to release and then raised the prices after they have seen whether or not the new OS generates interest. Who knows.

[CairnsRock]

They may be up against the Competition Act in Canada which requires them to return to the previous price after the end date of promotional pricing. A cooling off period is required.

[Sonic77]

Seems like they raise the prices just to make the next sale look better.

I think the next sale will be the final clear out before the 3G/LTE version... ?

$99,$149,$199 should do it.

Give it 2-4 weeks?

Note: Bestbuy still has 199/249/299 prices in Canada right now online...

[BBplaybookJS]

Too bad. At those prices, much of the sales interest they have generated will almost certainly fall away. It is simply not possible to sell it for more than the competition, even if people here don't think the competition is worth much. The competition, of course, being Android tablets, not the iPad. I really have to wonder if there is any genuine leadership within RIM at this point. They are about to release the new OS, so what do you do? Let's raise the price in advance. I have a feeling that by this time next year, people here will be in the same boat as users of the HP TouchPad. The Playbook is stil a very useful piece of mobile technology, but RIM seems to be doing its best to kill it misstep by misstep....

I don't understand your point, I just checked Best Buy here in Canada and the competition (iPad) is selling for $519 - 749. It would be a flawed business model indeed to continue to sell a product indefinatly for less than its costs to manufacture it. The price has to return to a realistic level (299 is probably still to low) to be sustainable.

[barkomatic]

I don't understand your point, I just checked Best Buy here in Canada and the competition (iPad) is selling for $519 - 749. It would be a flawed business model indeed to continue to sell a product indefinatly for less than its costs to manufacture it. The price has to return to a realistic level (299 is probably still to low) to be sustainable.

It's true that no company can sell a product for less than the cost to make it. However, neither can a company sell a product at a higher price if consumers won't buy it. I think the Playbook is now squarely in the "budget" tablet category.

RIM might do well to design a cheaper tablet that they could sell at a lower price and still make a profit. Once some key apps are released and the OS is polished perhaps then RIM can make another attempt at a high end machine.

[world traveler and former ceo]

with the new features of 2.0 .. reasonable pricing should be $299/399/499.... Playbook is worth it!

[app_Developer]

I don't understand your point, I just checked Best Buy here in Canada and the competition (iPad) is selling for $519 - 749. It would be a flawed business model indeed to continue to sell a product indefinatly for less than its costs to manufacture it. The price has to return to a realistic level (299 is probably still to low) to be sustainable.

It will be a tough balance. I agree at some point they have a responsibility to the shareholders to start actually making money on this thing. The issue, though, is have they already set the image of Playbook as an "affordable" device comparable in price to the Kindle Fire?

It will be interesting to see what their long term price will be. I hope at the very least they will choose one price and stick with it. Otherwise, they're just conditioning people to wait for the next big sale.

[CHIP72]

Regardless if the Playbook is worth it or not with QNX 2.0, when people know a product has been widely sold for $199 (16 GB) or $249 (32 GB) or $299 (64 GB) at many retailers previously, most people aren't going to buy at the higher price points and will wait until the product at least comes back down to the lowest previously-available price. I know personally that there was no way I was going to buy a 16 GB Playbook at more than $199 after various retailers had their pre-Christmas 2011 sales on the Playbook at $199.

At this point, I can't see RIM selling many first generation Playbooks above $199/$249/$299, even when QNX 2.0 comes out.

[fanatical]

At 299/399/499 the PB is still a deal. It's HW is superior to it's competition, the iPad and really only lacks the apps which are coming out at a good rate now. I'd be happy to purchase at this price.

[conix67]

I don't understand your point, I just checked Best Buy here in Canada and the competition (iPad) is selling for $519 - 749. It would be a flawed business model indeed to continue to sell a product indefinatly for less than its costs to manufacture it. The price has to return to a realistic level (299 is probably still to low) to be sustainable.

He saw Android tablets as competition, not iPads.

This has been a problem for any tablet makers. No one can compete and sell unless the price is significantly lower than iPads'.

People complain about price of iPad being too high, but other companies are having tough time even matching it (with decent profit for them), thus the failure of many who tried to enter the tablet market (HP is one best example, and RIM is another).

[DesertBum]

I just pulled the trigger on purchasing a 64G playbook. I even was given a ipad 2 brand new for free, but its not for me. I've missed my BlackBerry, I moved to a Droid 2 years ago. While the Droid hasn't been bad, but there is no connection. I still have my 8330 in my desk drawer that I take out from time to time just to hold and how good it feels in my hand. I made the decision that when its time to renew I'm going back to BB, and have my eye on a 9930 but about 2 months to go. I saw the playbooks went on sale yesterday and ordered it when I got home last night. Now I sit and watch the clock waiting for it to arrive. Will have to stop by the store and see if I can get a little early upgrade for my phone. Would be GREAT to have 2 new BB devices in the same week! It is nice to be back on CB.

[jbl0ggs]

There are many new tablets coming down the pipeline, the Asus Memo being one of them in a couple of months with Tegra 3 quad-core processor for $250. So PB pricing cannot be sustained even at the current sale price.

Asus Memo 370T changes the game by offering four cores for the price of two | CES 2012: Tablets and E-book Readers - CNET Blogs

[DAnklaud]

i wouldnt even pay $99 for the Memo, compared to the Playbook i got for $300, but it should be obvious that i have reasoning for this, and not just cheep pricing deals(u get what u paid for)

[bbqkid8]

I'm with some of you here... the $299/399/499 price model when 2.0 comes out seems like it would be a great price point. I don't think that RIM should get caught up in the idea of pricing it near the iPad because of it being a "premium" device. I do think it is premium, but the market is just so saturated right now and it is ruled by the iPad. Be Bold and price it lower!

On a side note. I might upgrade my 16gb to 64gb, if I can find one in-store somewhere before they jack it up again. So tempting!

[oilgeo10]

All of the big retailers in Canada are still selling PB's at $199/249/299

But if you really want to pay more and get 7-14 day shipping vs pay less with 1day shipping, SBB is your store!

[Thunderbuck]

I know it looks odd to raise the prices on the PB again. I doubt sales will be especially hot for the next week in the wake of this, but I don't think that's the point.

I'd like to think that RIM has done what it needed to do: get the Playbook into as many hands as possible. Now, we enter the final preparations for the 2.0 reboot, and it's time to start working on building value with the public. Raising the price was an inevitable step in this process.

It's possible to price an item too low. Many consumers come to view a product as "bargain grade" if all they look at is a price. And RIM couldn't keep selling PBs at that price forever.

So, why not wait for 2.0 and raise the price AFTER the improved value is proven? Because it would actually be harder to do under control those circumstances. And if they left the price increase until the launch, people would complain "wait! I could have got one for WAAAY less a couple of days ago!" Not the impression they want to make.

[BBplaybookJS]

I suspect that some of you are not thinking through the long term game plan for this device. When the 3g version is released later this year I suspect the price will be right back up where the iPad is,even though for Blackberry owners it offers nothing they do not already have (unless the hardware is significantly upgraded) and will probably force users to purchase extra plans from their carriers, which I presume they have been pushing hard for anyway.

In the meantime whatever we paid for our devices (and I bought 2 at excellent prices) The price must reflect the cost of the unit, once OS2 is released I would expect a sharp increase, sales be damned simply because it must.

[sasquatch99]

SBB raised the prices, but no other retailers followed. Now SBB is back to 199/249/299.

[byul]

some stores here have raised those prices too, glad that i took some while they were hotpriced.