[dpala1]

Tomorrow is June 20th (June 19th) - the release date of the Playbook in Australia. In anticipation I called Harvey Norman, Optus and Telstra.

Q: "Hello, I'm looking to see whether or not you will be selling the BlackBerry PlayBook tomorrow?"

1. Telstra - all our operators are busy blah blah (I couldn't get a hold of any stores)

2. Optus - "Optus has not yet reached a deal with RIM on the release date of the PlayBook. It will not be in tomorrow."

3. Harvey Norman - "My supervisor said that shipment will not be in for a week. This is state-wide, so no stores will have them available tomorrow."

I live in Brisbane (Queensland). If this is all true, then I am truly shocked and disappointed. Does anyone have anymore info regarding the sales of the PB in Australia tomorrow?

Thanks.

[ekafara]

I'm in Perth and I've been trying to find out the same thing. I have went into many stores to find out:

A) they have no idea what it is

B) no idea when they are coming in

C) both a and b (mainly this one)

The places I've been include:

Harvey Norman

**** Smith

Optus

Telstra

JB Hi-Fi

Myers

The BlackBerry Australia & New Zealand Facebook page and Harvey Norman Facebook page both claim that the Playbook is coming out on the 20th however. I have no idea how RIM messed this one up but they did. They have plenty of time to work on promoting it down here but I have seen one ad. A billboard for the rugby world cup that mentioned the Playbook.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dpala1]

Thanks for sharing. I just called a Harvey Norman down in Sydney (even though I live in Brisbane). They said that they have them on order and will receive them 'sometime this week'. He took down my details so he can call me when they arrive.

Maybe they're playing dumb and they will actually arrive to Harvey's by tomorrow? Wouldn't that be nice. Otherwise, I'm crushed :-P

[kevinnugent]

Blackberry Australia are second only to Nikon Australia in incompetence, in my opinion.

They have been telling people (Adele Beechley - MD Blackberry Australia/NZ) in interviews how this AMAZING professional grade tablet will be released on June 20th - at Harvey Norman AND all the major phone carriers from memory.

Ask any of the people supposedly involved THE DAY BEFORE and you can't get a straight answer. Typical.

Maybe they've seen the results of the PB release already around the world and they are scared.

[ekafara]

Yeah I'm not very impressed with them so far. I'm a Canadian down here so I'm used to how they do it in Canada. We'll see what happens tomorrow on the supposed release date.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[sam_b77]

Patience, people is a virtue you must all strive to attain.

[rickgainsmith]

Pretty sure HN will have the PB exclusive for the first month.

Not sure how the carriers are going to like not being able to see a data plan. I have one from the states and use the bridge browser function all the time.

Love it.

[gunpla]

Same situation here in Singapore. Weird. SingTel shops (our telco). Challenger, Best Denki and some others. All have demo sets running. But when I asked, non seem to know what's happening.

Wait it out I guess.

[dpala1]

The difference may be that Australia RIM announced the official release date to be the 20th of June. Harvey Norman also made announcement along with the pricing.

I strive to delay gratification, sam_b77, but we're talking about the PlayBook here :-P. I've been waiting ever since June 2010 (when I bought the Torch and fell in love with BlackBerry). I easily could've bought the Playbook from the USA during early May, but I thought I would wait it out until the AUS release.

[technology_fanboy]

Patience, people is a virtue you must all strive to attain.

As a user, I agree be patient. As an investor, what the f*** is RIM doing not having sorted out these distribution issues! My stock keeps dropping and I am lossing money hand over fist. This is true incompetence at work and I understand why shareholders are calling for Jim and Mike to step aside.

It is easy to be patient when you do not have skin in the game, it is all together another thing when you are the one losing money!

[kevinnugent]

Well, today is LAUNCH DAY in Australia. It's been roughly 4 hours since the stores opened that were supposed to be selling Playbooks.

I have rung 5 Harvey Norman stores. One had stock - still in the back loading dock - they will get round to setting something up "later in the week, probably". The other four "computer section" guys didn't think they'd received anything and didn't know what the Playbook was. One thought it was a games console.

No advertising. No instore displays. Nothing on their web pages.

And people wonder why this thing's an enormous belly flop.

[tofo17]

It is released, but you do have to be trying to find out

Blackberry Playbook 16GB Tablet | Harvey Norman Australia

[ekafara]

This is the worst release I have ever seen. I would love to see what CrackBerry Kevin has to say about it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[NinjaBread]

Wow, I'm glad I got mine sent from Canada now! I banked on the price being marked up in Aussie stores and that coupled with the apparent launch delay makes me happy with my decision.

Good luck to all of those in Australia looking for a PlayBook, hopefully they get easier to find in store.

[Charlieo132]

As a user, I agree be patient. As an investor, what the f*** is RIM doing not having sorted out these distribution issues! My stock keeps dropping and I am lossing money hand over fist. This is true incompetence at work and I understand why shareholders are calling for Jim and Mike to step aside.

It is easy to be patient when you do not have skin in the game, it is all together another thing when you are the one losing money!

All you have to do is vote "YES" for Schedule A on the Proxy.

[dpala1]

I'm glad my thread has received comments haha for the wrong reason however.

I've called Harvey Norman three times today (2 stores). The Brisbane CBD store said that the stock should have come in by 2:00, and if lucky they should be on sale at 3:00. I will be calling at 3:15.

[ekafara]

Just called Harvey Norman in Scarborough (Perth) and they don't have any in stock. Sounded like the guy had no idea what it was. I wasn't surprised.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dpala1]

I can confirm stock of the playbook at Indooroopilly, Brisbane.

Can I just confirm with everyone that (it may be paranoia):

1) The box with the cardboard sleeve was not sealed; the box itself had no seal sticker

2) In the small accessory box, there was only one Safety and Product Information and a cleaning cloth

3) The cables box was sealed

I don't know. It just seems to be that anyone could've opened it and toyed around?

[tdolman]

I'm going to Indro' tomorrow, apart from the open seal, everything a ok? Open seal could be contributed by a software update after shipping?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kzeusr]

Sounds a lot like the US release and best buy......

[dpala1]

Yep. For me, this crushes the iPad. That's me though, and my individual needs.

You may want to call indroo early into the morning and put one on hold. The girl said that they are nearly out (told at 4:00 20/06/11).

[dpala1]

Sorry for the double post. But when I bought the PlayBook I was asked if I wanted extended warranty from Harvey's. It was only $35 for 2 more years (?). I'm not sure if it really is worth it (legitimacy?), but I wasn't going to say no while I was rushing to get home to use it.

Hopefully the warranty is legitimate.

[DrBerko]

i bought mine last month while i was in Canada. i have very happy with it, all functions work including the bridge. I have not had any of issues with battery life, crashes etc. Does anyone have info on accessories available here?

[dpala1]

I was told that they will be in 'soon'. I'm going to go check it out tomorrow. One journal case + rapid charger ;-)

[kevinnugent]

Haven't seen any accessories yet.