[Malachi.2.15]

BlackBerry - PlayBook Tablet with 16GB Memory - PRD-38548-001

It's backordered...good sign that they are selling?!?!

[teamfoster03]

I'm buying a 2nd and 3rd at that price!
I love my playbook andf I think my wife and daughter will love it too!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[stevelord]

Maybe.......maybe not.

[pb730c3]

Each of the 3 models are $200 off! woooooo!

[schlammuuagar]

We all knew there would be a fire sale coming, and it's starting. RIM needs to get rid of the stock to raise some cash. No surprise. People will buy anything if the price was right (Right, HP TouchPad) Sold out on-line is no surprise as there are mountains of these things take up floor space in the retail stores.

[NickA]

Again, it's not a fire sale. It's not even the permanent price. It's a temporary price reduction. RIM is jumping ship on the PB, they are not spinning off a new hardware company, that are not dumping a product after 60 day.

There is no similarities to the HP TouchPad and the PlayBook. I curse HP for this.

[BBMINI]

As someone mentioned in the News blurb comments about this pricing, OfficeMax.com also has the 16GB for $299. I just called my local store and they have 1 left in stock.

[Chaddface]

Sold out on-line is no surprise as there are mountains of these things take up floor space in the retail stores.

All three versions are sold out at the five nearest best buys in my area. Not much of a mountain.

[TaZ52083]

If I new this I would of wait to save 200 bucks but oh well. Time is right if your interested in getting a playbook.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[AbstraKt]

If you're looking for price matches, check Office Max, too.

[Pete6#WP]

RIM's got 800,000 of these things in warehouses. This is just the start of the firesale. In truth the Kindle Fire my help stabilise the PlayBook price. At $199, the K-Fire has a slower CPU and no cameras or 3G and you really need the $89 pa subscription to make the most of Amazon's content. The K-Fire runs Android (good or bad?) but cannot currently access Google's Adroid store.

Once you factor in that $89 the price between the low end PlayBook and the K-Fire are nearly the same. It comes down to a choice.

I am sure that BlackBerry users will still want the PlayBook because of its tight integration with our phones. I am equally sure that the faithful BlackBerry corporate world will want the PlayBook too but, there it ends, I'm afraid.

With the K-Fire, release, the PlayBook has some very stiff competition for those who shop online. In-store ('cuz Amazon ain't gonna sell at BestBuy) the PlayBook will have an advantage.

All this should make for an interesting Christmas battle.

[shootsscores]

I paid full retail back in early May and have enjoyed my PB ever since. This loss leader promotion is excellent. It's the most effective advertising RIM cando right now: get these marvelous devices into peoples' hands and let the word of mouth begin as we have seen from polls conducted on this forum that the overwhelming majority of PB owners are happy with them.

[BBMINI]

What's interesting to me is that until now I haven't really been very interested in buying a PB since the CB reviews were mixed at best and I didn't think I'd use it that much. But I'm now planning to buy one due to:
- the temporary (as far as we know) price drop
- the promise of significant improvements that evidently will be included in the coming software upgrades

So I'm basically assuming that now is the time to buy a discounted "so-so" tablet in hopes that the software update will be excellent which will make the PB a better machine and also potentially drive the price back up; and I'll then own a $500 tablet for $300. And if the software update isn't all that's been promised then at least I haven't broken the bank to buy it.

As for those who are saying PB pricing will drop to $99 or $199, I personally don't think it'll happen. My guess is that RIM and retailers are putting some discounts on the PB to get more of them in people's hands and to create some PB excitement to counteract Amazon's KindleFire announcement yesterday.

[BBMINI]

This loss leader promotion is excellent. It's the most effective advertising RIM cando right now: get these marvelous devices into peoples' hands and let the word of mouth begin

+1. Totally.

[Pete6#WP]

I agree with you. I cannot seem to find a place in my life for a tablet.

I have a good laptop running Windows 7 x64 with 2 x 750Gb disks, a BlackBerry 9780 and a Kindle book reader.

I'l also admit to owning two iPods, an 8Gb one in the car and an 80Gb one for long haul flights.

I just can't find a need for a tablet.

Is there something (else) wrong with me ?

[shootsscores]

What's interesting to me is that until now I haven't really been very interested in buying a PB since the CB reviews were mixed at best and I didn't think I'd use it that much. But I'm now planning to buy one due to:
- the temporary (as far as we know) price drop
- the promise of significant improvements that evidently will be included in the coming software upgrades

So I'm basically assuming that now is the time to buy a discounted "so-so" tablet in hopes that the software update will be excellent which will make the PB a better machine and also potentially drive the price back up; and I'll then own a $500 tablet for $300. And if the software update isn't all that's been promised then at least I haven't broken the bank to buy it.

As for those who are saying PB pricing will drop to $99 or $199, I personally don't think it'll happen. My guess is that RIM and retailers are putting some discounts on the PB to get more of them in people's hands and to create some PB excitement to counteract Amazon's KindleFire announcement yesterday.

Polls have shown that the whiners and moaners who constitute a small minority of this forum's users post much more than satisfied owners.

[BBMINI]

I agree with you. I cannot seem to find a place in my life for a tablet.
I have a good laptop running Windows 7 x64 with 2 x 750Gb disks, a BlackBerry 9780 and a Kindle book reader.
I'l also admit to owning two iPods, an 8Gb one in the car and an 80Gb one for long haul flights.
I just can't find a need for a tablet.
Is there something (else) wrong with me ?

I used to be the same way until I've recently realized I'm using my wife's iPad quite a bit -- mostly to check news sites in the morning over coffee, play solitaire and other games, and have even read a couple books on the thing. I previously figured a tablet would just be yet another tech gadget I'd have to carry around and deal with, but now it's become a bit of a "sharing" issue at home since there are increasing times when my wife, daughter and I all are wanting to use the iPad at the same time. So I'm figuring it will be a nice, easily held compromise between trying to read websites on my Bold's tiny screen versus lugging out my laptop and setting it up on my legs. And it should be a much easier thing to have laying around the house to pick up and use rather than retrieving and opening the laptop.

The jury is still out in my case, but for $299 I'm willing to give it a try; at $499 that wasn't the case since it still seemed like too expensive of a luxury gadget that I really didn't need.

[BBMINI]

Polls have shown that the whiners and moaners who constitute a small minority of this forum's users post much more than satisfied owners.

Excellent.

One question that I'm sure I could look up quickly on CB or BlackBerry.com (and not wanting to sidetrack this thread), but what are the e-reader options on the PB? I read (yesterday, I think) on CB's news posts about the KindleFire that there's still not an Amazon app for the PB. Is that right? If so, does anyone know if the Barnes&Noble app works or if other reading options are available for PB?

One of the reasons the $299 price is attractive to me is that I've considered bying a Nook Color at $250, primarily to use it as a reader but after testing a friend's Nook Color I also realized the thing is basically an Adroid tablet that's much more capable than a regular Kindle. So for $50 more I'd much rather have a PB than a Nook, but I'd certainly want to be able to read on the PB.

[neil74]

No movement in the Uk, the 16gb PB is still �399 ($625)

[BBMINI]

FYI -- PB's price drop is now making headlines on CNN: BlackBerry PlayBook price drops to $299 at Best Buy, Staples - Sep. 29, 2011

[shootsscores]

Excellent.

One question that I'm sure I could look up quickly on CB or BlackBerry.com (and not wanting to sidetrack this thread), but what are the e-reader options on the PB? I read (yesterday, I think) on CB's news posts about the KindleFire that there's still not an Amazon app for the PB. Is that right? If so, does anyone know if the Barnes&Noble app works or if other reading options are available for PB?

One of the reasons the $299 price is attractive to me is that I've considered bying a Nook Color at $250, primarily to use it as a reader but after testing a friend's Nook Color I also realized the thing is basically an Adroid tablet that's much more capable than a regular Kindle. So for $50 more I'd much rather have a PB than a Nook, but I'd certainly want to be able to read on the PB.

The PB comes with the Kobo reader installed. It works well.

[BBMINI]

^^^ Thanks for confirming that. I installed Kobo on my Bold once but could never get it to work correctly, so I'll look forward to using it on the PB. Also looked over some other PB posts that said B&N's Nook app does work on PB and that maybe the Amazon app might work once the Adroid app compatibility option comes to PB.

[wrcousert]

The Kindle Fire looks like a much better deal at $199.

[NickA]

The Kindle Fire looks like a much better deal at $199.

Explain, in detail, why you think so. Not trying to be a smart a$$ or call you out, but a blanket statement like that deserves your reasoning.

[BBMINI]

The Kindle Fire looks like a much better deal at $199.

Not to me it doesn't. I just brought home my 16GB PB from Office Depot for $299 on a price match! Sweet.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com