I think ALL playbooks have been discontinued, atleast temporarily, here's why...

The Playbook is a fantastic device, but like all tablets can get better. The market share is slowly growing basically with little advertising. How and when RIM decides to upgrade the devise is any one's guess. I believe that their main focus right now is on BB10 - where it should be. However, they are not idiots and will base manufacturing on current inventory levels and demand. I expect that demand will keep growing just because more and more people are figuring out what a great product it is.

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i don't know how many times RIM has to say that they are committed to the Playbook. People need to stop reading media trash and speculation. Don't we get it now that the media loves RIM bashing and constantly posts negative or purely speculative information. RIM stock went up over a dollar this week - did anyone see this reported on the news...nope. Yet everytime it goes down 10 cents, it's everywhere and it's a disaster.


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Originally Posted by phoanyone

There won't be another PB. RIM loses money selling at the $200 range and slams into Android and Apple at the $450 range. At the higher price point, can you give me any reasons why John Doe would pick the PB over the others? Remember, people already don't want the $200 PB, why would they pay for the more expensive version?



The only reason people would pay $500 for a PB is if it's 10" AND BB10 is the "mother of all Oses". BB10 has to be incredible, revolutionary, life changing, dish washing, house cleaning, shoulder massaging, beer getting, and more to change people's minds. I don't think it will be/do any of those things.

Come on. The 32 gb PB sells for about $250 cdn and the IPAD sells at around $620 for 32gb. So there is a lot of room for PB to sell at a profit. And it is not that anybody does not want it. The problem is marketing. People have to keep finding out what a great device this is.

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Originally Posted by pididipop

Come on. The 32 gb PB sells for about $250 cdn and the IPAD sells at around $620 for 32gb. So there is a lot of room for PB to sell at a profit. And it is not that anybody does not want it. The problem is marketing. People have to keep finding out what a great device this is.

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The 32 gb PB sells? Sells? Like in sells?

Anyway, they are barely selling at 250 and you are saying there is a lot of room for profit? :confused:

Anyway, the current Playbook may be a good device, but with the anemic ecosystem and aging hardware, the only hope is that they will liquidate the remaining written off inventory without incurring further losses (e.g. marketing) or slashing the price even further.

the third point is very interesting...hmmm rim

Regarding the lack of PlayBook advertising, perhaps this is something the new CMO will want to work on. It takes time to build up a good advertising campaign, and I would hope that we would see this before BB10 comes out.

Show off the features of OS 2.0 (or do it when 2.1 comes out). Showcase what exactly Bridge does and how you'll be able to reply to text messages from the PlayBook, for example - or show someone controlling a tablet connected to an HDTV being controlled by a BlackBerry phone. Remember how the first "Droid Does" commercials were bragging about what a Droid can do that an iPhone can't? Similar idea here (though no need to bash the competition....just keep everything centered on the BlackBerry experience).

OP,
You make an interesting point. I agree with some of your points but I think the current PB was not a money maker for RIM so they made a decision to move existing units by lowering costs. However, why continue to make the current PB if it is not selling at a nice profit. I think they simply sold all their inventory on the 16GB and still have some of the 32 and 64GB Playbooks so they are continuing to sell them.

However, the conclusion that they are discontinuing the wifi only Playbook is probably not correct because it is a competitive advantage due to bridge, whether consumers see it or not.
I think we have hear quite a bit about the Playbook 2 having a 1.5Ghz processor, NFC, and also come in a 4G model but I believe it will still offer a wifi only version. However, they will offer this device at a profitable price point. I don't think it will go for 500 bucks or 199 but somewhere in between.

RIM still wants to play in the tablet space (and I think that is awesome since I love my Playbook) and needs to up their game to keep up with the times. However, they are unlikely to release a new PB until they move older inventory.

I say, if people are thinking about a tablet and find the current Playbook to do everything they want to go ahead and get one before they run out the current inventory. This Playbooks don't have the 1.5Ghz processors or other goodies of the upcoming ones but who cares? They are fast and powerful with great specs. Why not get a great tablet for a song.

can something be discontinued temporarily? isnt it just called slowing of production or something?

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Originally Posted by kennyliu

The 32 gb PB sells? Sells? Like in sells?

Anyway, they are barely selling at 250 and you are saying there is a lot of room for profit? :confused:

Anyway, the current Playbook may be a good device, but with the anemic ecosystem and aging hardware, the only hope is that they will liquidate the remaining written off inventory without incurring further losses (e.g. marketing) or slashing the price even further.

Aging hardware? That is what electronic companies love to say to make money. RIM put top components in the PB from the start. Too many companies "update" their hardware every year (or 6 months) to save 2 seconds on opening an app and to add a few extra pixels to the screen just to try to get people to pay a second or third time for essentially the same device. They put a big advertisement saying "___ 2, now with a faster processor and higher display resolution".

At this point in time it is probably better to wait a few years for the updates to stack together and make it worth the money. Ipad 1 and Ipad 3 are pretty much the same thing and judging by Apple's track record, to truly update one should wait for Ipad 7 or 8. Android tablets do vary, but that is because there are so many manufactures of it. Android OS makes big jumps, but they force you to buy a new tablet to get the better OS. BB OS makes big jumps, but they will let you update the tablet you already have.

So if your argument is that "updating" the hardware is smart for business, you are probably right. I personally will support BB because they focus on consumers and not try to shake their customers down for every penny they have.

Also, are you sure they are barely selling at that price, or is that a guess based on what others tell you on the internet? Or is that from a non-baised independent firm? I honestly don't know the numbers and am not being sarcastic.

Originally Posted by StephDOGG

can something be discontinued temporarily? isnt it just called slowing of production or something?

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More-so it is RIM phasing out Playbook 16GB to make room for the other larger PBs and the new 4G PlayBooks. My guess is that the 32GB and 64GB PBs are selling better then the 16GB ones. That or they want people buying the smaller PBs to have a 4G one. If the 16GB PlayBook was selling better than the others than they wouldn't discontinue that model, especially when the 16GB can compete with the popular but less powerful Kindle Fire at the same price point.

Originally Posted by BerryClever

Aging hardware?

It is aging COMPARED to others. Try explaining to the consumer that the PB hardware is still top notch (or at least adequate). Good luck.

Originally Posted by BerryClever

Ipad 1 and Ipad 3 are pretty much the same thing and judging by Apple's track record, to truly update one should wait for Ipad 7 or 8. Android tablets do vary, but that is because there are so many manufactures of it. Android OS makes big jumps, but they force you to buy a new tablet to get the better OS. BB OS makes big jumps, but they will let you update the tablet you already have.

You are correct that Android devices have probably been fastest in upgrades. Which, I strongly believe, is a great thing as you get a much better user experience at the same or lower price.

However, I would disagree that the iPad 1 and the new iPad are the same. They are not. There is a huge improvement in almost every aspect of the hardware between the two. And that's just in two years.

Originally Posted by BerryClever

So if your argument is that "updating" the hardware is smart for business, you are probably right. I personally will support BB because they focus on consumers and not try to shake their customers down for every penny they have.

Again, it's not only a good business decision, but it also benefits everybody across the board. I know that some people believe that hardware upgrades are unnecessary for the most part. But those people forget why they are not working on computers with only 64Mb of RAM, Intel 486 CPU, and a CRT VGA screen (green and black) or using a phone with a 64x64 monochrome display.

Originally Posted by BerryClever

Also, are you sure they are barely selling at that price, or is that a guess based on what others tell you on the internet? Or is that from a non-baised independent firm? I honestly don't know the numbers and am not being sarcastic.

No, it's just my extrapolation of the past sales performance. We know that the PB has not sold quite well to put it mildly. Besides, most of what have sold is probably 16Gbs. I doubt that something drastic has happened in the last quarter to conclude otherwise.

Originally Posted by BerryClever

More-so it is RIM phasing out Playbook 16GB to make room for the other larger PBs and the new 4G PlayBooks. My guess is that the 32GB and 64GB PBs are selling better then the 16GB ones. That or they want people buying the smaller PBs to have a 4G one. If the 16GB PlayBook was selling better than the others than they wouldn't discontinue that model, especially when the 16GB can compete with the popular but less powerful Kindle Fire at the same price point.

Again, there is a good reason to believe that they discontinued (production of) all three models long ago. And since the 16Gb sold the fastest due to the price, they sold the 16 GB inventory first.

I would say that this reason is something that is very hard to argue about.

Maybe it's not that they actually discontinued the 16 gig version but rather that they want to keep the 16 gig versions for themselves so that they can give them away free at every possible opportunity :D

For example, if you attend the upcoming Ideas conference in TO; you get a free Playbook. � Register Now! � ideacity

Who knows what the future will bring? Maybe if you attend an opening of a 7-11 store, you will get a free playbook :cool::rolleyes: