[Blkacesvf41]

Read a few articles saying that the PB is not selling well at all, how can this be? It is a great product but RIM really dropped the ball when it came to marketing.

[veldacy1]

i see the flash commercial on tv constantly and the ads for it on my laptop all the time..

[igotberryfever]

they sold over 250,000 units dont listen to media garbage

[drethos]

don't believe everything you read. its selling fine and has no more and no less problems then the ipad originally did and does. these articles are a load of fooey and shouldn't be taken to heart. the important thing is how you feel about the product.
i agree they should have had those adverts out earlier but meh rims never been king of marketing. unlike apple.
im still shook up seeing a playbook commercial the last time i watch ncis la...... on my playbook. i thought they were watching me but then i remembered i read my user agreement. if you don't get it head on over to the southpark website and watch it on your playbook.

[letstalktablets]

At over 8,300 units being sold daily I'd say that is far from 'not selling well'. I'm sure those numbers will continue to rise too. Those articles you speak of are likely full of bias opinions rather than actual facts.

[Snipperdo17]

everyone that plays with mine is in love with it and wants to get one. I have definitely sold a hand full of people on the playbook that went on to buy one. Its a shame they can't get stores to push the playbook because it really is a great tablet and will keep getting better. it also doesn't help that everyone is stuck on the ipad or else store employees would direct more attention to the playbook. if only i could be a playbook salesman for a living....

[_StephenBB81]

Read a few articles saying that the PB is not selling well at all, how can this be? It is a great product but RIM really dropped the ball when it came to marketing.

The places you read, did they qualify WHAT constitutes selling well?

Sure the Playbook didn't sell well compared to the iPad1, or iPad2, BUT compared to the rest of the tablets on the market, the Playbook is selling very well,

If you remove the apple filter the Playbook is selling great

[murnende]

The places you read, did they qualify WHAT constitutes selling well?

This. Before one can decide whether the PlayBook is doing well, they have to define "well."

RIM has said that the numbers are in line with their projections. While that statement doesn't exactly blow me away, I'll assume that it means the PlayBook is selling "well enough."

[Dapper37]

I've not seen anything NEW that states theres any trouble selling the PlayBook... If you have something new, Bring it. Lets see what they have to say. So far BGR and everyone that copied them is all I've seen.

[drethos]

apple will always sell products like the ipod, iphone, ipad, iball, isomething or another, ilaser, iserialkiller, and what ever else you can put a i infront of. my theory is the lower case i trigger something in alot of peoples minds that causes them to "need" what ever follows the lower case i. i bet if you take a heaping wad of Nj soil in all its now toxic worthlessness and put a i in front of the word **** it will sell. or it maybe that apple got a lucky break and has been riding that wave ever since with its marketing.

but no the playbook is not selling well......... compared to the ipad. but compare it to the xoom then start laughing. didn't the ipad hit some 1 million billion mark or something? btw don't fly alaska you will probably die. the pilots will get distracted with their new toys and crash the planes or something. idk i think the old paper thingies that have been tried and true since commercial airlines started are safer. what happens when the battery dies? do airplanes have 12v outlets in the cockpit?

[bryanhayn]

drethos, you are insane

[Economist101]

At over 8,300 units being sold daily I'd say that is far from 'not selling well'. I'm sure those numbers will continue to rise too. Those articles you speak of are likely full of bias opinions rather than actual facts.

The problem with this is that the 8300 units sold daily figure isn't a "fact" either. Since there haven't been any official numbers reported I'm assuming you're taking the speculated first month sales (250K) and dividing it by 30, which yields an 8333 daily average for that month. The problems with this figure are two-fold; one, it is based on an analyst's projection of units sold, and we know how poor those analyst numbers can be. Two, it assumes a second month sales rate that is identical to the first, which seems unlikely in light of word of mouth, advertising, etc.

Now, if we're believing analysts, a better daily sales figure would be 6900 units per day, since the projected first-day sales were around 50K, leaving 200K for the remaining 29 days, which is roughly 6900 per day. This still is a solid figure, but it's 20% below the 8300 figure you offered.

If you're going to claim the article is "full of bias opinions rather than actual facts", by all means go ahead, but you weaken your own argument by providing analyst "estimates" as if they were official sales figures.

[Economist101]

idk i think the old paper thingies that have been tried and true since commercial airlines started are safer. what happens when the battery dies? do airplanes have 12v outlets in the cockpit?

What happens when you spill coffee on the paper? What if you leave some of the paper at home, but don't realize it until you're airborne? What if? What if? What if?

The answer to all of these questions is "check the backup copy." All crew members would be carrying paper charts (if paper) and/or an electronic flight bag (iPad, etc). I'm quite certain that the carrier would have considered the possibility of equipment malfunction; it's kind of silly to think that issues such as equipment failure or power needs hadn't been considered in an iPad implementation. Commercial airline safety is about redundancy; after reading your post I have to conclude you believe commercial airline safety is what it is purely by happenstance.

Also, don't discount the benefits of the electronic option. Charts that are always up to date. The ability to zoom in on charts that might otherwise be difficult to read. The elimination of any need for secondary backlighting. Etc, etc, etc.

[Schlymer]

I plan on buying more playbooks for family members for Christmas. I am quite confident playbook will be on a lot of other people's Christmas wish lists too. I can't comment on RIMs marketing strategy in the US or Canada, but here in Japan I have seen nothing for the playbook. RIM sells only two BB phones here only through Docomo, the largest carrier in Japan. They sell the bold 9700 and the curve 9300, and haven't released updates for os6. They both run os5. It would take two weeks of advertising here to create the brand.

They need to bring in all new models and the playbook and relaunch the brand. People here pay in cash and love the next best thing. Come on RIM. Because ipad is stuck with a second rate carrier here, Blackberry actually has a chance to beat the Apple brand in Japan. BB's third rate roll out to date has caused them to be unknown here at best. India and many African countries have more of a BB presence than in Japan. I hope they get it right for the launch in Japan. The most important thing for the Japanese is that they get a top rated finished product on time, it is that simple.

[TheMarco]

It could sell WAY better if sales people actually knew something about it. Today I was at Staples and started talking to a sales guy about the PlayBook. He knew nothing about it. I showed him a bunch of things on the demo playbook, told him to upgrade the OS and told him to get the Facebook app, Scrapbook and a bunch of other things on it. He actually got quite excited and I'm kind of expecting him to sell more of them now.

I think I'll go back in a while and ask how it's going now with the PB.

[semicoln]

OP please post these articles you are speaking of so we can evaluate them further

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[otacon#AC]

OP please post these articles you are speaking of so we can evaluate them further

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Not the OP but....

RIM PlayBook Sales Forecast Sliced 23% -- InformationWeek

...but then at the bottom there is of course a link where RIM is saying it's selling just fine. For ever story you can find saying it's not selling well you'll find RIM saying it is. Until RIM releases hard sales figures we won't know. The reoccurring theme I've read in most of the articles is that 1) RIM missed the price point completely. Charging $499 for a 7" tablet when other 10" tablets cost the same and 2) The marketing of the PlayBook was horrible.

[DenverRalphy]

To be fair... really, honestly fair... Nobody knows anywhere close to how many PB's have sold.

In these forums, if an analyst concludes there were very few sold, the analyst is then branded as being ignorant and biased. If an analyst concludes it's been selling better than expected and will continue to do so, then they're praised as being In-The-Know and smarter than the average bear.

If the average Joe-Forum-Member wants to get anywhere reliably close to an accurate guestimate, they'd read all the analyst predictions and find a happy medium in between.

Myself personally, after reading all the guesses; I'm kinda partial to the analysts who guess an initial somewhat decent sales, but then predict it's a plateau as BB loyals purchased it right out of the gate and later sales have stumbled. In this case, I think the middle of the road analysts are probably closer to the truth.

[jvictor77]

It could sell WAY better if sales people actually knew something about it. Today I was at Staples and started talking to a sales guy about the PlayBook. He knew nothing about it. I showed him a bunch of things on the demo playbook, told him to upgrade the OS and told him to get the Facebook app, Scrapbook and a bunch of other things on it. He actually got quite excited and I'm kind of expecting him to sell more of them now.

I think I'll go back in a while and ask how it's going now with the PB.

I did exactly the same thing at Walmart yesterday - and I don't even have my own PB yet! This customer asked about the playbook and you could tell the rep was opening the PB box for the very first time. I was just standing there wondering how on earth they hope to sell any when they're hidden under the counter (with an Apple logo), when I noticed this and hijacked the conversation. I gave them both a lecture on the pros and cons as well as the developing situation with the PB updates and Apps and both the Rep and the customer thanked me profusely - the latter saying "I really hope these guys don't go down, as they make great products!"

[shootsscores]

It's interesting to see articles like that complaining about the 7" size which, at least to me, is a major advantage over the ipad. Portability is the name of the game for portable devices and with the PB's amazing display quality, the 7" size is absolutely not any kind of a compromise. In fact, it is an engineering tour de force.

Apple had the most timely introduction to the market and that is the device to which all others are now compared. It will take some time to undo the damage that Apple's compromised system inflicted on consumers.

I came across an interesting little tid bit in my readings about PB related issues. A big reason why Apple has a hate on for Adobe's Flash is that applications can be done very cheaply using flash and downloaded for free directly from web sites. Another way of looking at that is that with a fully Flash capable tablet like the PB, one can go directly to sites to access content without the need for purchased apps. Purchased apps are a big part of Apple's business model. Flash is bad for Apple's business. A direct competitor.

[semicoln]

Not the OP but....

RIM PlayBook Sales Forecast Sliced 23% -- InformationWeek

...but then at the bottom there is of course a link where RIM is saying it's selling just fine. For ever story you can find saying it's not selling well you'll find RIM saying it is. Until RIM releases hard sales figures we won't know. The reoccurring theme I've read in most of the articles is that 1) RIM missed the price point completely. Charging $499 for a 7" tablet when other 10" tablets cost the same and 2) The marketing of the PlayBook was horrible.

Thanks for the link. At first I was concerned about the smaller size of the PB but now I absolutely love it. Pixel density is a magical thing and it is great being able to comfortably hold the PB one handed.

I really don't understand the argument that a 7" tablet should automatically cost less than a 10" tablet. I've said this before on these forums but it is sort of like saying a Dodge Charger should cost more than a BMW 6 series because the BMW only has 2 doors and the Charger has 4. A non-defective, non-first batch Playbook is simply a higher quality device. Nobody who has held my PB is surprised when I say "it is the same price as an iPad".

[Snick Snack]

Thanks for the link. At first I was concerned about the smaller size of the PB but now I absolutely love it. Pixel density is a magical thing and it is great being able to comfortably hold the PB one handed.

I really don't understand the argument that a 7" tablet should automatically cost less than a 10" tablet. I've said this before on these forums but it is sort of like saying a Dodge Charger should cost more than a BMW 6 series because the BMW only has 2 doors and the Charger has 4. A non-defective, non-first batch Playbook is simply a higher quality device. Nobody who has held my PB is surprised when I say "it is the same price as an iPad".

Totally agree! I don't understand why people think a 7" tablet should be less. We're not talking about TVs here where a 21" TV is less then a 32" TV etc. PB has different techonology.

Everybody that has held and played with my PB automatically knows it will be expensive and don't flinch when I tell them the price. As my friend said to me, "I know it'll be expensive, it feels expensive and looks lot nicer then the iPad. For the same price I'd get the PB".

[Spinal]

the playbook is selling a few everydsy at the bestbuy i work at, so i think its selling fairly well. however we have a crapload of open box ones, a good 30, which at least 80% of those are 16gigs.

[Overquill]

Read a few articles saying that the PB is not selling well at all, how can this be? It is a great product but RIM really dropped the ball when it came to marketing.

It depends on the article. I've read articles which outline that sales have been good, and they base that upon having called a number of stores and compiling the information (with some possible extrapolation). Others articles (linked before) proclaim some kind of inside knowledge and analysis of their channels.

The wider perception that sales might be lagging might be due to there not being lines of people queueing for their tablet, or people camping overnight for their chance to buy. Frankly, nothing is dominating mindshare like the iPad right now, and probably won't for a long time.

All I personally want is for a device which serves my needs and will continue to be supported for the lifespan of the device.

However, for that to happen first, it will need to be released in Australia. My boss bought one in the US recently and hopefully will remember to bring it tomorrow for me to take a look at (I deploy mobile devices across a large corporation). My boss is heavily invested in the Apple world so he admitted that he can't get much use for it. Beats me why he bought it. I guess he's a gadget geek.

EDIT: just thought I'd add that the main point I see in the negative articles is that the lack of an email client is killing any enthusiasm for the product. This strikes me as inane, as it's a simple "Version 1.0" issue which will be addressed in future updates. I understand why it's a downside to the device, but I'm not sure if that's the main reason stopping people from buying. The size may put some people off, and the Blackberry brand isn't (at least in my country) as fashionable as the Apple one. However, I think most people are looking at the number of apps available for the platform. People want to know exactly how much the device fits into their life and the way that is quantified at the moment is through apps.

[Blkacesvf41]

Not the OP but....

RIM PlayBook Sales Forecast Sliced 23% -- InformationWeek

...but then at the bottom there is of course a link where RIM is saying it's selling just fine. For ever story you can find saying it's not selling well you'll find RIM saying it is. Until RIM releases hard sales figures we won't know. The reoccurring theme I've read in most of the articles is that 1) RIM missed the price point completely. Charging $499 for a 7" tablet when other 10" tablets cost the same and 2) The marketing of the PlayBook was horrible.

Sorry everybody, I couldn't get back to forum yesterday. Yes that was one of the articles, basically did a yahoo search under "playbook sales". Again I love it.