[RescueCop]

Check out the link below. Note that according to Best Buy's comparison of tablet OSes, Blackberry Playbook OS does NOT support Adobe Flash.

When major retailers can't even get the device's biggest strength listed correctly, it's surprising that Playbooks are selling at all.

On the other hand, they do list the Playbook as supporting Skype... which is technically correct, I guess, if one counts support via imo.im .


https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=oxDwrenH

[anon(1603170)]

Check out the link below. Note that according to Best Buy's comparison of tablet OSes, Blackberry Playbook OS does NOT support Adobe Flash.

When major retailers can't even get the device's biggest strength listed correctly, it's surprising that Playbooks are selling at all.

On the other hand, they do list the Playbook as supporting Skype... which is technically correct, I guess, if one counts support via imo.im .


https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=0ciedMAY

That's not the playbook's biggest strength :0

[grover5]

Best Buy has really come across as inept and poorly organized with this launch. I am pretty surprised at how weak a retailer they are.

[flyersfan76]

It is well known that the CEO secretly visits best buy stores to check on emplyees knowledge and their behavior. At least he used to. Apparently he doesn't check on corporate employees because although it may not be its biggest the strengths but it is a horrible omission.

[BergerKing]

Sent an email to them regarding this info. Hoping they just made an error and aren't getting $ under the table from the competition.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[PlaybookPlayboy]

BestBuy is poorly named. it's always been mediocre at best. Staples was much better, i got mine there after two fails at MediocreBuy.

[mmcpher]

At least Best Buy tries! Have you been to a Staples? All of the Tablet kiosks are in ruins with Xooms, Galaxies, Playbooks and Acers dangling from frayed tethers with smudged and filthy screens. I was in a local Staples the other day -- none of the tablets had wifi active and the Playbook had the original April 19, 2011 version of the QNX OS! I guess they like to challenge their sales staff.

[jaspergrizzly]

BestBuy and their reps are a bunch of wankers. I actually get upset everytime watching those clowns lead potential customers away from the PlayBook to some other dismal tab.

And mmcpher, I would normally agree with you regarding Staples, except that one location that I walked into the other day proved us wrong. They had a PlayBook displayed out front on it's own, and it was hooked up via hdmi to an HD monitor and it looked great. I added to their good idea by switching to showcase and demo, starting the HD demo video and placing it in a loop and enabling presentation mode, then pulling up the home screen for potential buyers to play around with apps while the HD video ran on the external monitor. It looked great.

[jaspergrizzly]

it posted twice, must have fat fingered the post button.

[osubass1]

this was posted several days ago:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f222/why-no-624171/

it was also noted that the same mistake was made for the Android 3.0.

[AutoPilot2020]

Best Buy is terrible, I went there the other day and the demo PlayBook was on 1.03 :| thats like 2 months old....

[peter9477]

This was pointed out to Best Buy by several people in several ways probably two months ago, and in one case (a Twitter post) it got a direct promise from a responsible employee that it would be dealt with. Clearly they're just completely inept and dealing with even such a trivial request in an expedient manner.

[nor246]

Generally, the Playbook displays and the staff knowledge in the Stores are terrible. The displays are out of place, too low down and the staff do not have a clue about the Playbook or it accessories. RIM must insist on better presentations.

[bulls2213]

Well that's embarassing.

[PineappleUnderTheSea]

Flash is definitely not the PB's biggest strength: bridge and multitasking are the big takeaways, something that the iPad either doesn't do / doesn't do well. That comparison chart on Best Buy is a joke that doesn't illustrate any of the real features that truly differentiate these tablets.

The fact that non-Apple tablets advertize they are Flash-enabled as their main marketing gimmick tells me that they don't know how to differentiate them better than the iPad. It's too bad, because the PB really stands out, but when you stick it in a chart with the rest of the bunch, it's yet another oh-my-gosh-it-has-Flash tablet.

[jnko]

Flash is definitely not the PB's biggest strength: bridge and multitasking are the big takeaways, something that the iPad either doesn't do / doesn't do well. That comparison chart on Best Buy is a joke that doesn't illustrate any of the real features that truly differentiate these tablets.

The fact that non-Apple tablets advertize they are Flash-enabled as their main marketing gimmick tells me that they don't know how to differentiate them better than the iPad. It's too bad, because the PB really stands out, but when you stick it in a chart with the rest of the bunch, it's yet another oh-my-gosh-it-has-Flash tablet.

For the average consumer making a decision to buy this over the iPad2 or other Android tablet tablet it's near flawless implementation of flash is probably more important than multitasking and the bridge. I didn't really care about Flash until I got it and realized how amazing it was and how crippled my iPad really was in that respect. But what really drew me to it was the gesturing and size.

[dandbj13]

Perhaps Best Buy just can't figure out why anyone would consider Adobe Flash a selling point. How's this for ad copy: iPad, the best Flash blocker of any tablet.

Don't bother flaming. I'm so, not worth it. Oh, what the heck; flame away.

On a more serious note, now, you are beginning to understand why Apple entered the retail business.

[The Consigliere]

I was at Best Buy today (cringe) I loathe going into Best Buy because 1. I can hardly ever get someone to wait on me in the computer section & 2. Their "knowledgeable" staff always seems less than that. To make a long story kind of short, I stopped by there looking for a screen protector for my Playbook & the employees that actually did try to help me said they haven't even picked up a Playbook yet. They asked me if I had one to which I replied yes (kinda why I was looking for a screen protector) then proceeded to tell me that it runs a different operating system, "you know, like android not like the ipad." Really? It's not like an ipad? Kinda knew that since it's sitting in my pocket. UGH, main reason why I'll be getting my screen protector on-line now & not from them, I'll just wait the few days until it gets here.

[kbz1960]

Yep the so called knowledgeable staff doesn't know crap. It's funny when you tell them what is wrong or how to fix something. Even some of the geek squad are clueless.

[louzer]

I had a chat with a (very knowledgable) Best Buy employee today who clarified some serious issues I had with their store and displays.

The first problem is that the stores are not set up for all of the wifi devices that are coming out (and requiring wifi connections to demo). They have an inexpensive data line that is shared by the Geek Squad performing multi-gig updates daily and by the wifi connections for demo units.

The second problem is that they need to ensure that demo units have some security in place to keep average Joe hackers from messing with these units. In the case of the Playbook, they display 'demo' units which prevent you from altering the configuration to some extent.

This particular Best Buy had a Playbook on display in both the phone and the computer department. Both were on 1.0.3.xxxx. With his help, we set up both Playbooks to run off a mifi unit on 4G. We tried to do an OS update on both agreeing that the new OS would allow smoother demoing of the bridge. Both units failed to allow the update to complete. They both choked at one point and asked to be rebooted.

The display in the phone department had the Playbook displayed right next to a Verizon Curve 3G. The Curve did not have the Bridge installed and we couldn't install it since we didn't have a BlackberryID for it. The Playbook was not allowing an OS update and wouldn't allow downloads from AppWorld since it was running the 'demo' OS.

I almost think they'd be better off displaying the demo units turned off underneath a big TV running demo videos in a loop. When a demo unit powers up, it gives the impression that it is a fully-functional unit. When people have trouble with basic aspects of a device, they will turn to another.

I'm not sure if this is Best Buy's problem, RIM's or both.

Just my $0.02 worth.

[jnko]

Staples is even worse. The playbook on display in the store near has a broken USB charging cable (so it doesn't even turn on), the store display looks like complete *** and the stand the PB is mounted too is broken as well. Not to mention it's in a corner of the store separate from all of the other tablets. This thing isn't even getting a fair shot.

[mmcpher]

Perhaps Best Buy just can't figure out why anyone would consider Adobe Flash a selling point. How's this for ad copy: iPad, the best Flash blocker of any tablet.

Don't bother flaming. I'm so, not worth it. Oh, what the heck; flame away.

On a more serious note, now, you are beginning to understand why Apple entered the retail business.

You are right that apart from developers, there are huge legions of Flash fans out there. But there are huge numbers of people who have gotten those error messages when they can not run some video or trick because there's no Flash. I don't need to know how Flash works to know that I want it to work.

Apple's unique approach to retail is another facet of their remarkable success. I don't think RIM should try to copy it at scale, but I'd sure seek out a Blackberry Store, after dealing with Best Buy and Staples, and after years of working around the know-nothings in the carriers' stores.

[anon(3733516)]

wow, fail on best buy

[esqlaw]

That's not the playbook's biggest strength :0

adobe is making cross platform apps. pdf files are the most important thing for many professionals.

[JetLife87]

Best Buy has really come across as inept and poorly organized with this launch.

It's right in line with what RIM has been doing.