In the Tablet Wars, where does the PlayBook rank?
- As I may have mentioned before, I work for Best Buy (Computer Sales) in Columbia, SC. Recently I was just notified to start reading up on the Acer Iconia. I did so, and started thinking, "Hmm... this doesn't look too bad". With all the upcoming tablets like the Acer Iconia, the Asus Eee Tablet, Microsoft Courier (officially dead project, but still possible), and Cisco Cius, do you think the PlayBook will become lost in the dog pile?04-18-11 12:38 AMLike 0
- Very hard to answer right now, given all of the shortcomings in the device. May be in a better position to assess in a year.04-18-11 12:51 AMLike 0
- If RIM doesn't mess up with OS updates and the developers deliver on apps, it has the potential of being the #2 tablet. Unfortunately, it won't be like this out of the gate and a lot of smartphone users tend to gravitate towards tablets that run the same OS as their smartphone does because they like the platform and want to maintain the app investment they've made. Right now, RIM isn't #1 on that list by far. Also, while the PB does a lot of new stuff in terms of what BB users aren't used to, it doesn't do a lot of new stuff that at least one other tablet doesn't do. I'd say that really the HDMI presenter mode feature is the only thing I haven't seen on other tablets so far.ren.saiyuri likes this.04-18-11 12:55 AMLike 1
- 04-18-11 12:55 AMLike 0
- If RIM doesn't mess up with OS updates and the developers deliver on apps, it has the potential of being the #2 tablet. Unfortunately, it won't be like this out of the gate and a lot of smartphone users tend to gravitate towards tablets that run the same OS as their smartphone does because they like the platform and want to maintain the app investment they've made. Right now, RIM isn't #1 on that list by far.04-18-11 12:58 AMLike 0
- I'm not. It was a decent idea, but their execution was absolutely horrible. Then again, you could say the same for RIM. Not necessarily because of any one particular product, but because as I'm told there was a pretty big exodus of users from BlackBerry to Android. Those that moved are pretty faithful to Android.04-18-11 01:01 AMLike 0
- As far as loyalty from smartphone users, I think the Android OS phones have that ground covered pretty well. Except the Xoom pretty much failed. There are plenty of Xoom tablets that have basically been sitting in our cage gathering dust for weeks. Such a horrible price point.04-18-11 01:02 AMLike 0
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- True. But they'll stuff him and re-animate him. There'll even be an app to control him on stage.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.comthedark722 and BlackStormRising like this.04-18-11 01:22 AMLike 2 -
- I think they are #2 at this point, or they ought to be (public perception from press regurgitating negatives would probably put them behind Android unfortunately)
Apple clear #1 just based on the maturity of the product and the app selection (just sayin') - although Playbook definitely has some nice advantages for people who appreciate them and are aware of them
Cisco Cius will flop I think - being Cisco they will probably price it too high. RIM should be able to clobber them if they execute well (but they don't have video conferencing yet...).
I agree with tablet sales aligning with smartphone sales by OS. But with Android there have now been a number of poorly received products so that has ratcheted down expectations. The Acer is in the same boat as Xoom until Google updates the OS (which I think they are doing before end of year?)
So as I see it, RIM has unfortunately lost control of the PR for the launch. It is a very good first generation product, and they should be able to address many of the critic's complaints via software updates over the coming months (but they only had one chance to make a big splash with the initial launch)
In the coming months they will be in a vicious dogfight with the Android ecosystem, and in order to sustain #2 they need to really execute on the software and roadmap. If they execute well, then the 3G/4G products could be received better (hopefully they'll get a second round of reviews out of those, although they've lost the chance to make a strong public impression with the NY times, WSJ etc).
They need to keep the free blackberry offer to developers going - if they had 10,000 apps at the cost of thousands of Playbooks, which helped lead to millions incremental future sales, that's worth it! They need to go to great lengths to streamline the process for developers!
If their investors allow them to make a big marketing push before the Christmas season, and they can keep developers interested, then they can build momentum I think. Plus it is very critical to roll out the QNX phones ASAP. If there's any way they can surprise with an early launch without sacrificing quality they should (if they're not gunshy, they'll probably tease with some screenshots, videos, prototypes of the QNX phone a few months in advance - might cost them near-term sales of the 2011 OS 6.1 models but would at least sustain interest in the platform which is key)
One other thing they need to work on is a video steaming/purchase ecosystem. They have the music, but for this platform they really need partners on the video front. Hopefully they'll be able to keep Hulu in the U.S., for example - and add Netflix.
I'm wondering about the Android app support as well. This may have been a marketing mistake. I guess if it turns out that way, they could just let it slide, with no commitment to update it to tablet versions of Android (depending on how 'open source' Google makes it, it might not be realistic anyway - it could be a massive waste of resources to keep chasing Android updates in order to keep the Playbook Android emulator current)04-18-11 09:47 AMLike 0 - One of the review I read had a statement from an industry annalist that indicated they were not even sure there was a tablet market. He explained that they saw sales for Apples iPads expanding, but that they had no indications that any other tablets were going to be viable products.
This summer maybe very telling for this group of devices, Android has several new tablets coming and hopefully by then RIM should have a finished product to show off.04-18-11 10:55 AMLike 0 -
- If RIM doesn't mess up with OS updates and the developers deliver on apps, it has the potential of being the #2 tablet. Unfortunately, it won't be like this out of the gate and a lot of smartphone users tend to gravitate towards tablets that run the same OS as their smartphone does because they like the platform and want to maintain the app investment they've made. Right now, RIM isn't #1 on that list by far. Also, while the PB does a lot of new stuff in terms of what BB users aren't used to, it doesn't do a lot of new stuff that at least one other tablet doesn't do. I'd say that really the HDMI presenter mode feature is the only thing I haven't seen on other tablets so far.04-18-11 07:20 PMLike 0
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In the Tablet Wars, where does the PlayBook rank?
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