[Sonic77]

Just seen a thread on redflagdeals showing a scan
of a upcoming Walmart Canada flyer with the Playbook at $198, 298, 398 !

Starts Nov. 18th...
[Elect] [WM] Blackberry Playbook $198 , Starting Nov. 18th - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

Update - the flyers for Staples, Future Shop , Bestbuy and Walmart all show the new $198 pricing now.



...

[kevinnugent]

That's the right price for it. Now they might sell some of these puppies!

[princesultan]

nice! might pick one of these up. i heard there's a rumor of a version 2.0 coming out in the new year. does anyone know if this is just expected to be a hardware and/or software upgrade. i know the software upgrade should be coming in the new year, but i'd hate to pick this up at 199$ when a brand new one is coming out in a few months.

[tumer]

If a new one does come out it want be 198

[kbz1960]

Wow now they have to reduce price even more. Oh well it is what it is. Hope they can sell some now.

[kill_9]

The reason these sales are necessary to move the BlackBerry PlayBook is a direct consequence of the failure on the part of Research In Motion to effectively market this exceptionally high-quality tablet. I see other 16GB tablets advertised for CAD/USD499.99 and apparently they sell because retailers are advertising them whereas the BlackBerry PlayBook has fallen off the pages of most weekend flyers. If the next release of the BlackBerry PlayBook operating system and environment (PBOS2.0 aka BBX) misses the February release date the entire management team at Research In (Non-)Motion should be terminated. That nobody in management seems to have a clue saddens me.

[kbz1960]

The reason these sales are necessary to move the BlackBerry PlayBook is a direct consequence of the failure on the part of Research In Motion to effectively market this exceptionally high-quality tablet. I see other 16GB tablets advertised for CAD/USD499.99 and apparently they sell because retailers are advertising them whereas the BlackBerry PlayBook has fallen off the pages of most weekend flyers. If the next release of the BlackBerry PlayBook operating system and environment (PBOS2.0 aka BBX) misses the February release date the entire management team at Research In (Non-)Motion should be terminated. That nobody in management seems to have a clue saddens me.

There is nothing to market right now until 2.0 is released and if it isn't released with everything working in Feb. I'm afraid RIM is toast so everyone there will be terminated anyway.

[Abrante]

nice! might pick one of these up. i heard there's a rumor of a version 2.0 coming out in the new year. does anyone know if this is just expected to be a hardware and/or software upgrade. i know the software upgrade should be coming in the new year, but i'd hate to pick this up at 199$ when a brand new one is coming out in a few months.

If a new one comes out in a few months and you just so happened to pick up one of the deeply discounted PlayBooks you can pass along the deeply discounted one to someone that you wouldn't mind video chatting with . I paid the Black Friday price for my 32gb two months ago so I am not disappointed for the soon to be "new low" price.

[rcheung135]

I knew this was coming and most of you thought otherwise. I'm so thankful that I returned my PlayBook, and will be picking up a 32GB once this rolls along. Nice!

The problem with RIM is that they are taking the risk of disappointing old customers with new ones by not releasing relevant information that looks into the future. People are left guessing where they will go in the future, on a when-it-is-available basis. RIM might or might not come out with a new product. Just don't feel disappointed if they do, since their argument is that you bought a PlayBook at a discounted price.

[Anatomy]

I bought our first 16GB for $499 and hated myself for doing it. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome machine but I feel like none of the tablets are worth that much. I was happy that my wife felt the same way (her bday present) and returned it. She waited and when the prices came down we bought a few; 2 new and 1 used. We averaged in at this price and I'm happy to say that we love ours and consider it a bargain at this price.

I'm glad that these prices will have many more people opening their eyes to this awesome tablet and I'm thrilled that we'll soon be getting that awesome 2.0 upgrade!

People want the bigger screen to use but forget that the point is to be able to carry it easily. I (and common sense) am personally responsible for 2 android tablets and 3 ipads being replaced with playbooks over the last month.

[robsteve]

For what it is worth, it seems these sales are working. There was a thread pointing to an Ipso poll that showed the Playbook had 10% market share in Canada, with iPad at 78%. That puts all the other tablets at 12%.

The other tablets may just not be selling well. For example Rogers has a sale now that if you get two Samsung phones on contract, they will give you a Samsung tablet. Not sure if you have to get a data plan for the tablet.

[kill_9]

I'm glad that these prices will have many more people opening their eyes to this awesome tablet and I'm thrilled that we'll soon be getting that awesome 2.0 upgrade!

If these prices are real and not a sick joke I will be buying another BlackBerry PlayBook and giving it to my brother. All he needs is email (web-based email is sufficient) and web browser. The bonuses of built-in camera to take photographs and videos of his barnyard animals and with a Box.net account those photographs and videos can be stored off the tablet as a backup. He does not watch much television but the web browser playback of television station broadcasts for various series might help during the upcoming winter. Book Reader for ePub along with a few books are another use. Audio playback within the web browser for radio stations as well as the free yourmuze.fm service along with 7-Digital further enhance its utility.

On the other hand, my sister is an Apple Mac and iPhone user so there is no hope for her anyways.

[anon(4086547)]

Don't think I can resist at this price ... now which one to get? 16, 32, 64?

[AggreX]

Geat price to spread some of that QNX around before the superphones arrive. Exclusive members only video chatting!! Nice Xmas gift for the wife or GF

[peter9477]

At that price, I'll soon run out of family members to give them to!

I guess it's time my six year old gets one of her own. Or maybe not: she'd probably just whine about "where's native email" and "what, no Angry Birds?!". ;-)

[CommanderElvis]

Geat price to spread some of that QNX around before the superphones arrive. Exclusive members only video chatting!! Nice Xmas gift for the wife or GF

At that price, ****, give 'em each one.

/Cannot resist the farce, Luke.

[hjkimbrian]

to fight off hoarders, i got one today so i can safely get a price guarantee when it goes on sale.

[lotuslanderz]

If these prices are real and not a sick joke I will be buying another BlackBerry PlayBook and giving it to my brother. All he needs is email (web-based email is sufficient) and web browser. The bonuses of built-in camera to take photographs and videos of his barnyard animals and with a Box.net account those photographs and videos can be stored off the tablet as a backup. He does not watch much television but the web browser playback of television station broadcasts for various series might help during the upcoming winter. Book Reader for ePub along with a few books are another use. Audio playback within the web browser for radio stations as well as the free yourmuze.fm service along with 7-Digital further enhance its utility.

On the other hand, my sister is an Apple Mac and iPhone user so there is no hope for her anyways.

Hey, this is exactly why (except for the barnyard animals part) I'm thinking of getting one for my sister for Xmas.

[caseden]

Interesting...I just price matched a few at Best Buy (to the Bell price), so I got them for $279. From what I understand then, if a better deal comes up within 30 days, they price match again, plus another 10% of the difference. Puts it at around $200 all-in...pretty nice!

[jsn204]

staples canada will also be selling the playbook for 199, 299, 399 starting this friday (nov 18)

[pustyak]

If these prices come to the US, I might very well pick up another one.

[domenic_lo_russo]

staples canada will also be selling the playbook for 199, 299, 399 starting this friday (nov 18)

I can confirm this as well

[TheMimic]

If walmart goes on special, can't we pull a price match before they actually go sale at staples, bestbuy or futureshop?

[caseden]

If walmart goes on special, can't we pull a price match before they actually go sale at staples, bestbuy or futureshop?

In my price matching over the past few days (3 PBs, all different times at Best Buy), they have been pretty lax. One time, didn't even call to check Bell's stock (where they were cheapest, but probably already sold out), and today, they price matched an unadvertised price at The Source, which had stock at $499, but honours Bell's pricing (only if you ask).

Regardless, they did need to know that the sale was current, so I doubt anything but the day of the sale will work. And since Best Buy opens three hours after Walmart, might be tricky.

[Sonic77]

This is crazy ...

There are 30 pages of people on Redflagdeals running to every Walmart
in the country buying $500 Playbooks to price match later, some buying 4 at a time.
Others paying the same at Bestbuy hoping for a price match.

I don't think most of them even care what QNX is.

It's like Cabbage Patch Kids all over again!

Ding Dong RIM - the tablet market is about one thing only... low PRICE.