[ReneeGray]

Hi everyone!

I live in Perth Western Australia, and like everyone else on the forum, I am dying to get the Blackberry Playbook. But, does anyone know if its going to be available here, or where I can get it etc??

Thanks
Renee

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

I think it is going to be another 6 months before you get it. You could order from America though. Depends on how steep Import Taxes are (�10 import tax per �40 value here) over there.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[NinjaBread]

Hey Renee, I'm in the same boat (except I'm in Melbourne). I've been scouring the interwebs to find out who ships overseas and so far it looks like Sears and ShopBlackBerry.com are the best bet.

So once it launches in the USA I plan to put in an order and see how much it will be all up. Another option I'm looking at is using a freight forwarding company so I can pre-order from Best Buy now, have it delivered to the freight company and they can send it to me. An elaborate scheme to be sure! But I don't know if I can wait until the PlayBook finally launches in Aus.

[ben10h]

same boat here, and from perth too. Im deciding between the PB and the wifi XOOM, depends on which one i can get it first and is easiest to get from the US but im more inclined to the XOOM at the moment because of its larger screen size, but the features of the PB is also very tempting....

[kevinnugent]

I think it is going to be another 6 months before you get it. You could order from America though. Depends on how steep Import Taxes are (�10 import tax per �40 value here) over there.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

We're lucky. Anything under $1,000 and there's no import duty USA -> AUS. Just add 10% GST if they catch it. Mostly, they don't.

[ben10h]

just saw this article on google news :Samsung's Galaxy 10.1v tablet is ready to take on Apple's iPad 2 | The Australian
at the end of the article it says the PB will be out in US on the 19th and second quarter for AUS.

[pedrogari]

I think it is going to be another 6 months before you get it. You could order from America though. Depends on how steep Import Taxes are (�10 import tax per �40 value here) over there.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I agreed whit you, for RIM we belong to "third countries" by the time they release PB in EU (except UK which belong to the "RIM second world") we will probably have Ipad3 and Galaxy Tab 5, I don't expect to have it in Spain before next year. If you want to pay double price importing it from US it is your choice!!

[NinjaBread]

Just an update on my cunning plan to have it shipped to an American freight forwarding company:

put in a pre-order from Staples to deliver it to my newly created Shipito.com address. Had the confirmation email from Staples in hand and was pretty happy until I received another one informing me I need to supply a US phone number to finalise the order. Since all I have is an Australian mobile number I had to cancel the order. Sob. Although Shipito do assisted purchases where they buy the item for you, the 8% commission fee on the price of the purchase put me off trying that just yet.

Best Buy don't ship to 'known' freight companies so my options for pre-ordering are looking a bit slim. Will have to wait for Sears and shopblackberry.com to start selling it so I can decide on the cheapest option.

[jazzyja]

Just an update on my cunning plan to have it shipped to an American freight forwarding company:

put in a pre-order from Staples to deliver it to my newly created Shipito.com address. Had the confirmation email from Staples in hand and was pretty happy until I received another one informing me I need to supply a US phone number to finalise the order. Since all I have is an Australian mobile number I had to cancel the order.

You gave me a good idea how to get a Playbook but now I'm going to tell you how to solve the US phone issue

There are several ways to have an US Phone number! An easy and effective is using Whistle that gives you an US phone number that works in your PC or even iPods Touch. There are also some other services that provide an US number that is a mask for your Aussie phone, I mean, they call you in the States and you answer here.

Of course... One thing more: MobiCity already announced the Playbook but no prices yet. They are Brisbane based, so once they get it, I'll check it out.

[NinjaBread]

I've gone a different route altogether now: my girlfriend has family in Canada so I've put in a pre-order for a 16gb from Best Buy Canada and am getting it shipped to them so they'll forward it on to me.

Thanks for the info on Whistle though, will look into it in any case.

[ReneeGray]

I just had a look on ebay.com, i think i'll just get it from there when its released

[iThamerBB]

hmm.. what about Amazon! are they going to provide a PB?
ebay is too expensive !!

[Austerror]

Well everyone I can confirm the PB works just fine in Australia.

I'm the Admin for our office BES and the tethering and all that works great with my Torch (via optus). No issues installing the bridges software on my BB.

I ordered my PB from a shop in Queensland.

[NinjaBread]

Excellent news Austerror! Mine is being shipped from Canada tomorrow, can't wait. Just out of curiosity, what store in Queensland did you order from?

Also, can you access App World and download PB apps? I read on another thread that App World was currently only available for North America and Canada but I can't verify that.

[Austerror]

If you do a search for playbook in australia, you'll see the shop.

Yep, the app store works fine. When you set the PB up, it asks for your BB app store login. Since I already had an account on my BB I think that it why it works.

I've been looking through the apps and I've installed a bunch. As far as I can tell, the PB is fully functional in Australia for a BES environment.

[NinjaBread]

Fingers crossed it is the same for BIS! I already have a BBID so am hoping for no trouble when I setup the PB.

[kevinnugent]

Fingers crossed it is the same for BIS! I already have a BBID so am hoping for no trouble when I setup the PB.

It is. I have one set up with BIS through my 9780 on Optus. Works well and very easy to figure out.

[ekafara]

Any word of the official launch of ht Playbook in Aus yet? We've now heards of it going over to the UK and a few other places tbus still no Australia i decided not not ship it in from Canada so i'm trying to patiently wait for it.

[Robo3]

It is available now through BB store although dearer. Or mobicity or ebay.

[cheetah2k]

I got mine via GSM Nation - Smart Phones, Smarter Service and was sent via Fedex. 64Gb was $730 delivered to my door in Brisbane 3 days after ordering..

Was lucky, got a perfect one too!