[CanadianBB]

So headed up to pick up another Playbook as super good deal at Futureshop. While I am waiting another couple is asking about tablets to the sales rep. He basically told them:



Do not buy a Playbook. Worse tablet out there does nothing that the other tablets do. Other then linking with a Blackberry phone it does nothing!!!!!

So I mentioned to the couple who was still wondering around that I have been using a Playbook for 6 months and it has blown away the competion every time that somebody trys to compare. I suggested they do some research and once they get past the nay sayers they will get some good info.


O well, there are 2 Future shops in my town and I will buy from the other one.

Brian

[xKrNMBoYx]

That sales rep is just another person working without much knowledge in their job selection. There are so many tablets that are not even worth $200. The PlayBook has one of the best screens and speakers on a tablet. The 7" form factor is great for mobility and still small to hold it in one hand.

I just don't think the playbook blows away all the competition.

[Syrous44]

That sales rep is just another person working without much knowledge in their job selection. There are so many tablets that are not even worth $200. The PlayBook has one of the best screens and speakers on a tablet. The 7" form factor is great for mobility and still small to hold it in one hand.

I just don't think the playbook blows away all the competition.

Its more like they get bonuses and other incentives to sell android and apple. And nothing against the playbook, it is a killer tablet. However, their are others out their that are better if not as good, also they have a good ecosystem. The playbook is lacking in this department. And up to os 2.0 it was nothing more then a web browser and media player if you did not have a bb to go along with it. So in some sense the sales rep was correct however on outdated info.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[mikeo007]

You're overrating the playbook is almost as bad as the employee's underrating of it.

[Tre Lawrence]

Simple. Make stuff the salespeople like themselves.

I have been round long enough to remember when salespeople looked at you like you were crazy for getting a Palm/WinMo device. Blackberry devices were what they used, and Blackberry devices were what they pushed.

[BB_Bmore]

The problem is salesman probably haven't touched it since 1.0.xxx

[Cracklen]

while in a F'shop awhile back les than couple wks after i acquired my 64gb (upgrading my purchase to include the $50 bundle) I overheard a salesman stating also BBPB is not as good as ...apple prod.... I almost walked over to them to ask what is not as good as PB !! But bumped into a young fellow who was with his parents eyeballing the PB along with other tabs even laptops later ...... the demo unit was loacke dup so i popped bk out to my vehicle for my own unit and by the time i got bk to electronics and the fellow I was was able to show him a few things on the PB as limited my knowledge was . . . . but had to leave before he made decision but the women bought a apple prod. .... looked to be of the 1% crowd or trend followers imho

[aha]

The problem is salesman probably haven't touched it since 1.0.xxx

Can't say it's their fault though. RIM dropped the ball and never picked it up

[berklon]

How does Rim overcome this crap?

Easy, make a product that provides plenty of use and enjoyment.

At our firm all our partners were given a Playbook. Barely anyone uses them. They're mostly sitting in their drawers or returned back into the hardware pool. The reason they give... can't do much with it.

A friend (who owns a Playbook) last week won an iPad 3. He was thinking of just selling it as he's not a fan of Apple at all - but decided to keep it for his young son to use as his school uses them for some educational apps.

So he decided to play with it and see what he could do. He wanted to stream movies from his server share... and was able to do it without spending any money. He knew some of the movies would have issues - AC3 audio, .mkv formats and some with external subtitles files... so he went and downloaded a free app and it played all of them without any problems.
He was also able to use some promotional code he had for a bunch of different magazines that weren't available for the Playbook, and he's reading them.
He was also able to control his AV receiver with an iPad app. Then he just went on a spree and downloaded so many different apps for himself, his wife and some educational and pure entertainment games for his son.
The iPad is getting a lot of use from him and his family. They were extremely impressed with all the things you can do - for work or for fun... and they didn't pay a dime for these apps.

He's still not a fan of Apple, but he said straight out "I have to give Apple credit... the stuff just works... and you can do so much with it - unlike the Playbook.". He admitted that he never got a lot of use out of the Playbook because of the lack of apps and limitations of the apps that were available.

The Playbook really is limited in it's use... and THAT's why people bash it.

[varunsain]

If you are a registered user on CrackBerry how can you even pay attention to what a sales rep is saying? For that matter, en easy way to shop for electronics is to buy whatever the sales rep disregards.

[Tre Lawrence]

If you are a registered user on CrackBerry how can you even pay attention to what a sales rep is saying? For that matter, en easy way to shop for electronics is to buy whatever the sales rep disregards.

I actually agree. I know it's not always fair, but I over-research tech purchases before getting anywhere. Tech forums are a godsend, and I take pride in knowing as much about a potential purchase as a regular guy can be expected.

[Angus_CB]

Comparisons of the $200 Playbook to the $400 iPad are ridiculous.
It's like comparing a Toyota Yaris to a Lexus IS. Yes they are both cars but for twice the price the Lexus better have more bells and whistles.

I always have people asking if they should get a Playbook or an iPad. Android tablets are seldom mentioned.
If they plan to use it for anything beyond surfing the web and checking email I don't recommend the Playbook. In most cases that is all they are looking for though.
I always mention some of the other features that the Playbook has like being able to connect it through HDMI to a TV and bridging to a Blackberry.

[cgk]

Comparisons of the $200 Playbook to the $400 iPad are ridiculous.
It's like comparing a Toyota Yaris to a Lexus IS. Yes they are both cars but for twice the price the Lexus better have more bells and whistles.

Why? the playbook is only $200 because they couldn't get anyone to pay $400 for it - it wasn't designed and costed as a $200 tablet.

[berklon]

Why? the playbook is only $200 because they couldn't get anyone to pay $400 for it - it wasn't designed and costed as a $200 tablet.

Exactly.

It's amazing how people here seem to have a revisionist history and keep changing the goal-posts.

The Playbook was competing directly with the iPad. The price was comparable and RIM targeted Apple. The Playbook failed spectacularly and became a hugely discounted tablet that most people still find underwhelming.

[Angus_CB]

Why? the playbook is only $200 because they couldn't get anyone to pay $400 for it - it wasn't designed and costed as a $200 tablet.

I won't argue that but we are comparing today's choices not something from the past.
I agree, the Playbook was way overpriced at launch which didn't help their popularity.
Now that the Playbook is a $200 tablet there are more appropriate comparisons like the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7.

[ralfyguy]

Easy, make a product that provides plenty of use and enjoyment.

At our firm all our partners were given a Playbook. Barely anyone uses them. They're mostly sitting in their drawers or returned back into the hardware pool. The reason they give... can't do much with it.

A friend (who owns a Playbook) last week won an iPad 3. He was thinking of just selling it as he's not a fan of Apple at all - but decided to keep it for his young son to use as his school uses them for some educational apps.

So he decided to play with it and see what he could do. He wanted to stream movies from his server share... and was able to do it without spending any money. He knew some of the movies would have issues - AC3 audio, .mkv formats and some with external subtitles files... so he went and downloaded a free app and it played all of them without any problems.
He was also able to use some promotional code he had for a bunch of different magazines that weren't available for the Playbook, and he's reading them.
He was also able to control his AV receiver with an iPad app. Then he just went on a spree and downloaded so many different apps for himself, his wife and some educational and pure entertainment games for his son.
The iPad is getting a lot of use from him and his family. They were extremely impressed with all the things you can do - for work or for fun... and they didn't pay a dime for these apps.

He's still not a fan of Apple, but he said straight out "I have to give Apple credit... the stuff just works... and you can do so much with it - unlike the Playbook.". He admitted that he never got a lot of use out of the Playbook because of the lack of apps and limitations of the apps that were available.

The Playbook really is limited in it's use... and THAT's why people bash it.

Now the part with streaming media I found impressive, particularly when it wouldn't play AC3 and MKV and he just had to download an app to make that work. Not that I am interested to watch movies on my PB, but that is nice especially that the PB will NOT do AC3 or will stream any video from a server.

There is no shame in admitting that stuff like that should be that simple on a PB as well. The hardware surely can pull it off.

[kb5zht]

You're overrating the playbook is almost as bad as the employee's underrating of it.

The playbook is fabulous. Blowing away all the competition? Ummmmm.... Well the sales comparisons debunk that instantly.

Have RIM open their sealed-shut-with-superglue eyes and get off their stubborn @sses and work toward getting first tier apps on this thing instead of all the #2 and #3 choices and then you will see it blow away the competition.

[madman0141]

Retail Sales Professionals.....You got to love them.

[MayhemMaybe]

They should have played on the playbooks strengths

Smaller (for those still pining for a 7" iPad). Cheaper. Easy multitasking (no fiddly fiddley home button gymnastics. Swipe and done like in webos). Fast enoug for games etc. Bridge so no need to setup email, and no need to pay for a second dataplan.

Then, they needed to get devs on board.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9860 using Tapatalk

[yaytoast]

If I were the salesperson, I'd have said something similar. Why? Because it's an easier sale and an iPad brings in a larger commission.

But let's also consider this: the Playbook is limited compared to other tablets in its functionality. The iPad does everything and does it all very simply. A lay-person who buys a Playbook is likely to return it because it doesn't have the apps they want or the user experience isn't what they expected. I already experienced both issues personally, when both my parents gave up their Playbook's, the tablet I figured they'd love to use, for iPad's.

So if you're a salesman, are you going to push an item that will give you a lower commission (or maybe none, if it's returned) and then have your store deal with a flood of returned, open-box Playbooks? I sure wouldn't.

[smartie88]

Comparisons of the $200 Playbook to the $400 iPad are ridiculous.
It's like comparing a Toyota Yaris to a Lexus IS. Yes they are both cars but for twice the price the Lexus better have more bells and whistles.

I always have people asking if they should get a Playbook or an iPad. Android tablets are seldom mentioned.
If they plan to use it for anything beyond surfing the web and checking email I don't recommend the Playbook. In most cases that is all they are looking for though.
I always mention some of the other features that the Playbook has like being able to connect it through HDMI to a TV and bridging to a Blackberry.

They called themselves lexus but nobody agreed. So now they call them yaris.but still,some folks think they are lexus

[xKrNMBoYx]

The problem is salesman probably haven't touched it since 1.0.xxx

If I was a salesperson for a cellular carrier/bestbuy/microcenter I would definitely have played with all devices in that store. Only because I like gadgets and its even better if you can mess with them at your work.

.:edit:.

I forgot these people get paid by commission. Although I would feel bad for RIM, I probably would do the same also if I were in their place. But I wouldn't go as a far to lie that a product is horrible so I could get a little bit more commission. If the customer shows interest in a item there is no need to deteriorate their view. Unless the particular item is just horrible, and you feel like you can be responsible.

[bitek]

I've heared good things about pb in futureshop.once bad thing about pb in bb so I did what op did and told the guy that bb employee knows 0. the point is that these employees work for minimum wage and you should not expect professionalism nor good knowledge of products

Sent from my BlackBerry Playbook using Tapatalk 2

[mikeo007]

I've heared good things about pb in futureshop.once bad thing about pb in bb so I did what op did and told the guy that bb employee knows 0. the point is that these employees work for minimum wage and you should not expect professionalism nor good knowledge of products

Sent from my BlackBerry Playbook using Tapatalk 2

You're associating minimum wage with lack of knowledge and professionalism eh? I think a lot of people would take offence to that notion.

[berklon]

It doesn't matter what a salesperson's opinion is on the Playbook.

What matters is what the average consumer thinks, and they've already voted with their wallets by not buying them. The sales numbers speaks volumes. While the Playbook isn't junk, it's just not very useful to the average person and is lacking so many things compared to the competition.

It's been out for over 1.5 years and the quality and quantity of apps is still pretty bad.