[HybridGT]

As we all know, ever since the sale started and os2 started inching closer, this playbook forum has exploded.

Not only that, but it is seemingly finally getting out there, popular apps are being recreated for the PB, as we have already seen, apps like angry birds, and cut the rope have been made, and im sure that more popular apps are coming our way.

What do you guys think, with the introduction of os2, will the PB adoption rate increase substantially, and will the Playbook be a true competitor to the iPad?

(The os2 browser even better than the ipads aswell, aswell as a higher html5 score, what apple is pushing for)

[3lionsbecks]

probably not a real competitor to the iPad. I mean seriously they sold what? 11 mil. iPads or something?

I guess it could become a serious 'alternative' to the iPad if they keep the price under $300 but even then many people will buy into the Kindle fire for name and familiarity at $199 so I'm really not sure where the place for the PB will be.

I see a ton of them around now. They were a seriously hot Xmas item here but I'm from Waterloo so

[blackjack93117]

probably not a real competitor to the iPad. I mean seriously they sold what? 11 mil. iPads or something?

I guess it could become a serious 'alternative' to the iPad if they keep the price under $300 but even then many people will buy into the Kindle fire for name and familiarity at $199 so I'm really not sure where the place for the PB will be.

I see a ton of them around now. They were a seriously hot Xmas item here but I'm from Waterloo so

It doesn't have to "compete" with ipad to be successful - it has its own category - just like ski boats don't compete with cars.

[GlowingBlue]

It seems the term "co-existing" has dropped in usage in the tech industry lately. It's either competing or it's not, and if it's not it's automatically categorized as failure.

[3lionsbecks]

It doesn't have to "compete" with ipad to be successful - it has its own category - just like ski boats don't compete with cars.

The OP specifically asked our opinions if we thought the PB would now compete with he iPad. If you have a problem with that wording take it up with him.

I guess in your analogy the PB is a ski boat and the iPad is a car. not very flattering compareson I'd say

[blackjack93117]

The OP specifically asked our opinions if we thought the PB would now compete with he iPad. If you have a problem with that wording take it up with him.

I guess in your analogy the PB is a ski boat and the iPad is a car. not very flattering compareson I'd say

The other way around- the ipad is for play - the PB is functional.

Who said I have a problem? I just made a true statement, in response to the OP's question.

[3lionsbecks]

The other way around- the ipad is for play - the PB is functional.

Who said I have a problem? I just made a true statement, in response to the OP's question.

you live in a fantasy land but if you're happy then have at it.

[gwon]

As we all know, ever since the sale started and os2 started inching closer, this playbook forum has exploded.

Not only that, but it is seemingly finally getting out there, popular apps are being recreated for the PB, as we have already seen, apps like angry birds, and cut the rope have been made, and im sure that more popular apps are coming our way.

What do you guys think, with the introduction of os2, will the PB adoption rate increase substantially, and will the Playbook be a true competitor to the iPad?

(The os2 browser even better than the ipads aswell, aswell as a higher html5 score, what apple is pushing for)

I like it.. the betas are nice, and the android app support is good if somewhat limited.

Hopefully we can get a more active community built up. Would be nice to see that XDA vote come through.

Are you considering the playbook as a cyanogenmod target? Have you thought about looking into the possibility of a build of your mod that runs *inside* the bb os in the same manner as the android player works at the moment? A good alternative to the RIM restricted android environment would be awesome.

Would any of the above even be possible?

Sorry for the derail...

[ice4u2]

It will pick up some adapters but its a bit late. Don't get me wrong, I love the new updates and can't wait to update my OS in Feb. But to the average consumer, Blackberry has had tons of negative press and the sales reps just add on to that at the stores (Best Buy, Radioshack, etc--in the US). If you wanted a tablet you were either an early adopter or you probably got a tablet during the various sales during the holiday season (tablets in general not just blackberry). I just have to wonder...who's left that wants a tablet. And of those that are left, with so many options under 300..why a playbook? RIM has to answer that question with a PR blitz as opposed to among us FanBoys.

[Thunderbuck]

I personally don't care much whether the PB captures a huge chunk of market share, just that it sells enough to A) make a profit for RIM and B) develop a decent enough user base to attract developers.

RIM has announced what appear to be some good, solid enhancements to the platform. Assuming they can follow through (an easier assumption to make now than, say, 2 months ago), sales will doubtless improve.

I think RIM has chosen to take control of the old chicken-egg argument ("people won't buy because there are no apps"/"developers won't publish because there aren't enough users") by heavily discounting the device to pump them out the door and improving the app prospects. It's easy to imagine RIM's Developer Relations guy begging Rovio to put out Angry Birds last fall, and their guy saying, "call us when you've got over 1M users."

[asherwiin]

It will pick up some adapters but its a bit late. Don't get me wrong, I love the new updates and can't wait to update my OS in Feb. But to the average consumer, Blackberry has had tons of negative press and the sales reps just add on to that at the stores (Best Buy, Radioshack, etc--in the US). If you wanted a tablet you were either an early adopter or you probably got a tablet during the various sales during the holiday season (tablets in general not just blackberry). I just have to wonder...who's left that wants a tablet. And of those that are left, with so many options under 300..why a playbook? RIM has to answer that question with a PR blitz as opposed to among us FanBoys.

When IBM first created the computer, they thought the global market was less than 1,000 mainframes......

[BBplaybookJS]

I intended to purchase a playbook ever since I first heard about it. I managed (with difficulty) to convince myself to wait till Christmas, which I'm glad I did because I saved a lot of money.
As far as competing with the ipad to a certain extent they are like chalk and cheese, as are Blackberry smartphones compared to the iphone. Look at the forums on here. The features our members most enjoy and the features that we most look forward to are predominantly not the ones ipad owners care about.
I think, presuming all the positives that are coming out about OS2 if all the hoopla comes true this may be the year that the Playbook pulls out of the tablet pack and carves its own niche, separate from the ipad and separate from most of the other tablets.
Now if only Blackberry can produce an outstanding new phone they could be back on top.

[Chrisy]

The more I play with my dad's iPad the more I want a PlayBook. The size just seems right for me.

[jackpots]

I personally don't care much whether the PB captures a huge chunk of market share, just that it sells enough to A) make a profit for RIM and B) develop a decent enough user base to attract developers.

RIM has announced what appear to be some good, solid enhancements to the platform. Assuming they can follow through (an easier assumption to make now than, say, 2 months ago), sales will doubtless improve.

I think RIM has chosen to take control of the old chicken-egg argument ("people won't buy because there are no apps"/"developers won't publish because there aren't enough users") by heavily discounting the device to pump them out the door and improving the app prospects. It's easy to imagine RIM's Developer Relations guy begging Rovio to put out Angry Birds last fall, and their guy saying, "call us when you've got over 1M users."

Sorry, RIM did not do so out of strategy, they did so out of necessity. While the PB hw was top notch a year ago, the OS though having good bones was half baked, and the ecosystem was even more crappy. I think RIM problem is clearly management and thinking businews users are any different from prosumers or consumers. To boot, the hw will soon be outclassed in the pricepoint. The early adopters of the PB were clearly screwed - they paid high and got little plus dreams. iPad users were screwed, they paid higher to be part of a club, but the stuff did what it proported. The energy from 2.0 will obviously cause more folks to drink the KoolAid (crowd dynamics) and attract more devs to create more apps. If you have a cookie and it is taken away, and now you get it back, should you be thankful to the pert. RIM is finally delivering 2011 in 2012 - I am still looking forward to 2012 features today.

Further, MS, Apple, Google all with more assets and more products in their pipeline to keep them afloat, will not sit still. And all have the power to suck the air out of the room. The phone companies stopped unlimited data 6 months ago, because they realise that phone are consumption devices primarily. RIM needs partnership to survive. The executives know this. All this hoopla is for them and not really for the base.

[dguy123]

It will pick up some adapters but its a bit late. Don't get me wrong, I love the new updates and can't wait to update my OS in Feb. But to the average consumer, Blackberry has had tons of negative press and the sales reps just add on to that at the stores (Best Buy, Radioshack, etc--in the US). If you wanted a tablet you were either an early adopter or you probably got a tablet during the various sales during the holiday season (tablets in general not just blackberry). I just have to wonder...who's left that wants a tablet. And of those that are left, with so many options under 300..why a playbook? RIM has to answer that question with a PR blitz as opposed to among us FanBoys.

So, if I'm following your logic, iPad sales should drop to nearly 0 this quarter because everyone who would buy a tablet already has one.

I suppose you could make the same argument for cars, houses, etc.

There is plenty of space in the market for the playbook to do extremely well.
The tablet market is still very young... nowhere near saturation.

[justincase1911]

I believe RIM can turn things around with os2 and BB10, but in order to do it, they will really have to step up their marketing. You would be surprised at how much a well planned marketing campaign can influence reviews as well as the public at large.

[Coach101]

I'm sitting here pecking this out on my new 64gig playbook tbat I bought for 299! Can or will the playbook be able to compete with the ipad? In a word, i believe "yes"! With some strong flashy marketing, a pricing model that aggressively competes and some good press the playbook will and can compete with the ipad! OS2 will bring the playbook into a position of being a better feature for feature tablet against all comers. People are not stupid, if the playbook is a better value with more features and is perceived to be a solid contender people will choose it!

[app_Developer]

I'm sitting here pecking this out on my new 64gig playbook tbat I bought for 299! Can or will the playbook be able to compete with the ipad? In a word, i believe "yes"! With some strong flashy marketing, a pricing model that aggressively competes and some good press the playbook will and can compete with the ipad! OS2 will bring the playbook into a position of being a better feature for feature tablet against all comers. People are not stupid, if the playbook is a better value with more features and is perceived to be a solid contender people will choose it!

Oh, I have no doubt the PB can compete with any of the other tablets out there, including the iPad. But they just have to finish the OS and the developer tools and all of that. What sells the iPad are the apps that people share with each other. "Hey, have you seen this?" or "In my practice we started using this" or "Hey, do you play this game" or "Your child should look at this" or "check out how I trade now with this thing". The tablet itself is nothing more than a window into the games or the apps or the content that people want, an electronic tabula rasa if you will.

But those apps can easily be made for PB also if they finish the developer tools and frameworks and if they get good at marketing so there is some critical mass of units being sold each quarter. Enough to keep people interested at a consistent pace without lots of price fluctuations and so on.

They just have to keep moving and not think they've caught up yet, because they haven't yet. Especially with iPad3 probably just 6-8 weeks away now.

[TheScionicMan]

I believe RIM can turn things around with os2 and BB10, but in order to do it, they will really have to step up their marketing. You would be surprised at how much a well planned marketing campaign can influence reviews as well as the public at large.

Yep, it's all about the marketing. The products ARE competitive, but nobody knows it. Maybe we need to start doing our own commercials for them and Youtubing them. Like that Jack in the Box ad....

[anon(757282)]

The other way around- the ipad is for play - the PB is functional.

Who said I have a problem? I just made a true statement, in response to the OP's question.

One of the RIM guys said it just right himself: "Blackberry is for doers, not for viewers."

I really think that should be a tag line RIM uses in their advertising.

[HybridGT]

In my opinion the only way to guarantee a successful future for the PB will to market and advertise the Playbook and OS2, and when BB10 comes, if we dont see smart marketing, then we can all be assured that RIM's ship has sunk.

[Megacharge]

Are you considering the playbook as a cyanogenmod target? Have you thought about looking into the possibility of a build of your mod that runs *inside* the bb os in the same manner as the android player works at the moment?

He's not the "real" Cyanogen, just a heads up for all of you, he's an imposter. (I'm not kidding)

He really should put a large bold font disclaimer in his sig so people know, it's not cool to mislead people like that.

[[email protected]]

The phone companies stopped unlimited data 6 months ago, because they realise that phone are consumption devices primarily.

Sprint still offers unlimited data.

In an ever shifting and ever evolving tech world, R.I.M should consider offering their OS to another cell phone manufacturer. HTC took a major hit when Sprint began selling the iPhone, and posted their 1st decline in 2 years.

They make good phones and could make a good strategic partner for R.I.M.

Just my two cents.

[[email protected]]

One of the RIM guys said it just right himself: "Blackberry is for doers, not for viewers."

I really think that should be a tag line RIM uses in their advertising.

Like the amateur thing? Or maybe the leap frogging thing? Didn't work out so well. No?

Why go out of the way to bait others anyway? How does it benefit the product?

And, honestly, after a year of watching the others launch product after product, who exactly is doing the viewing?

These statements can come back to bite you.

[HybridGT]

He's not the "real" Cyanogen, just a heads up for all of you, he's an imposter. (I'm not kidding)

He really should put a large bold font disclaimer in his sig so people know, it's not cool to mislead people like that.

I'll do That right now.

I didn't even know what the cyanogen mod was until someone asked, I just heard my friends tossing it around, cool name though, think the admin will allow changing of screen name?