[James Nieves]

The Playbook is a consumer failure, but as it's been said for monnnnths now- Half0baked test bed, and honestly. I think the Playbook with the Android Runtime is far more important than whatever "preview" of BB10 the Playbook OS may be. The Playbook is a dynamic product that NO ONE has come close to. Just because people are ignorant doesn't meant the PRODUCT is a failure, if anything RIM failed itself with the poor marketing and lackluster support of the Playbook. 9 months for 2.0? Should have been 2-3 months tops but I'm not complaining I bought mine a month before the febuary release, so I hardly noticed

ANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Unlike most tablets that won't be supported beyond a few software upgrades... BB10!

[sinsin07]

OK can I not thank you for your useless input?

It's all about sales around here. I have to wonder if the least sold heart catheter is a failure even though it saves lives like the rest.

Comparing a device used for health to a what is essentially a luxury device is ridiculous.

The PlayBook had incredible potential going for it prior to launch. Even the media, both tech and mainstream, was proclaiming this the "iPad killer" everyone was waiting for.

Isn't Crackberry Fan's mantra not to believe media? iPad Killer? Just do a Google search on these two works: iPad Killer. Playbook was not the first pretender.

it had the type of hype surrounding it that marketing can't buy. Everything couldn't have been laid out more perfectly for a resurgence. Then the PlayBook launched...inexplicably without things people would consider to be part of basic tablet functionality.

Inexplicably? It's perfectly explainable. Substitute "inexplicably: for "not ready for prime time".

snip...In the end better doesn't sell perception sells

Perception will only get your foot in the door. After the product is in the customer's hands it must live up to expectation. This is why Customer Service/Return Counters exist.

Not being a success doesn't mean you're a failure.

In regards to the Playbook, it depends on what RIM's ultimate goal was. If was to make a profit and gain marketshare, then it was spectacular failure. If the goal was to loose money, give a bad taste to the public, than it was a spectacular success, even beating the iPad in that regard.

[sinsin07]

How well did the first iphone sell?

6,124,000 Iphone 2g were sold. By the end of 2008, 13 million iPhones were sold (iPhone 2G and 3G)

Apple's goal was to sell 10mil by end of 2088.

It has sold more the 200mil since then.

People should stop worrying about what Apple did because that's not going to be easily duplicated.
However RIM should eaisly be able to sell 13 million units in one year if their product is good. They already have a mobile base. Apple didn't.

[lnichols]

I would say the biggest failure with the Playbook was/is that even after a year on the market, RIM has still not delivered features promised 8 months prior to release (USB OTG, Ethernet Adapter, BBM, DLNA, etc.), and has been late on getting all features it has currently implemented. Also we were told frequent updates and while this occurred the first couple of months for bug fixes, they are now only doing rare major updates. The Playbook rollout was a fiasco and did nothing but hurt RIM's reputation and raise serious questions about RIM's ability to transition to BB10. While I don't think you can say the Playbook is a complete failure because it has provided a platform to start building an ecosystem, I think you can say it has been a sales, PR, and credibility failure for RIM. I use mine a lot from home for web surfing, but I'm still waiting on a lot of features from RIM that I likely won't see until Q2 2013 when BB10 makes it to the Playbook. I purchased mine at full price first week of release.