[grover5]

Firstly, I've been where I've always been. Australia. It has never been priced this low here before. The 16GB version was a while ago. Never the 64GB.

This price came out today..... what's dated about it?

Try not to be so North America'fied. There are other places in the world.

And how is it a good deal for the consumer to be duped into an ecosystem on the basis of a fire sale? I paid over $700 for my first Playbook, because I thought it was worth it. At $199 the 64GB Playbook is being advertised as being as cheap as memory sticks "but you have a tablet attached for free". They can't sell the things at RRP .... that *is* sad in my opinion.

I think you're viewing it in a strictly Australian sense. It has been much cheaper in many countries outside the US for awhile now. I like the ecosystem and I bought mine for $700 as well. You just seem bitter about it. Move on.

[CrackedBarry]

At the current rate, they'll sell right about half a million. Now in terms of marketshare and "getting 'em out there" half a million is neglible. It's not going to do anything in regards to making it interesting for developers.

There are no advantages for RIM, for having it out there and available for sale.

The disadvantages however are major: RIM goes from "Blackberry: The company that makes Premium phones" to "Blackberry: The company that makes discount tablets" in many peoples eyes.

The whole brand gets devalued by linking it to a failed product.(Given enough time, the memories of the whole Playbook fiasco would fade)

RIM would be much better off, IMHO, by dumping the remaining Playbooks in a landfill, AS WELL AS trying to generate as much goodwill as possible with the PB customers it does have. Send everybody who paid full retail for their Playbook a 150$ voucher towards Playbook accessories, movies and software. Throw as many engineering resources as can be spared at the Playbook, releasing updates in the kind of way it was promised originally. Make sure everything is done to get the Playbook software as polished as possible, and fulfilling all the promises that have been made along the way.

And when a successor is ready sometime next year, everybody who paid full retail for their Playbook should be sent a 200$ off voucher for the new model (the Playbook name should obviously be retired, as its too tainted now), along with a "Sorry for all the hassle, thank you for sticking with us, and hope you'll consider our new tablet..." letter from Thorstein Heintz.

[kbz1960]

Crackedbarry don't you think that ship has already sailed? What is the consensus of bb phones right now and has been for at least a year in the US?

How is selling more pb's going to do anymore harm especially when people know BB10 is coming to it? There are apps being made and done for BB10 which will not work on the current pb OS but will when it is updated.

Also the pb is a dated item so a price drop should be expected even without lack luster sales.

I do agree the next one needs a new name.

[CrackedBarry]

Well, they should've never discount it that heavily to start with. It didn't really work in terms of gaining market share. As soon as they took that huge write down for the PBs in their financials, that's when they should have buried the remaining stock.

So yes, in one sense it OS too late and that ship HAS sailed. But... The longer the Playbook is out there in Walmarts/Staples 99/199$ discount isle, the stronger is the impression that Playbooks are a discount product, and Blackberry is a maker of discount items. So in another sense it's never too late to turn the ship around.

RIMs only play for the future is to be a small time manufacturer in terms of numbers of handsets/tablets sold, BUT with big, juicy, nicely padded margins en each device sold. That's why it's so damaging the brand and perceived value of the brand is so damaging for RIM right now.

[bay1902]

Ok, maybe i'm a silly Brit but the PB's price-drop isn't the first time a large manufacturer has dropped prices in order to generate sales / interest / buzz / engagement withe the product & host company. Many new RIM users are coming out of this (myself included), many more becoming fans. They have clearly started to shift market focus and I am guessing their VP for Market Research & Customer Insight finally realised they dropped one on the initial pricing & for targeting the 'corporate business user'.

This was the way of the world when BB's first came out; their target audience, etc. But in recent years it has moved much more into the social market - with no more evidence required than the UK riots of last year where BBM was used to co-ordinate events.

My point...companies frequently come out with gadgets & products at an over-priced level. There is a clear product design / marketing model working on a 3-tier system - 1. engage the fans / existing; 2. refine product (os2) engage more comfortable users; 3. drop price to stimulate the market (now). I do have a reference / citation for this model somewhere.

But let me reel off other big electronics companies who have had to do the same after initial stupidity on price...Sony (PS2 / PS3 / PS Vita - all have done this)....failure or success? Microsoft (Zune, Xbox - even the Office system!)...failure or success? Nintendo (DS / Wii / 3DS)...failure or success? Dyson, Apple, HTC, Samsung - you get my point.

I could go on & on.

Why people automatically think a price drop spells the 'end' i'll never know. In business circles this practice normally means the beginning of a new stage - i.e. population & preparation for BB10 / re-stimulating their market share. Ok I acknowledge RIM have dropped the ball on a number of matters, such as time delay, but my point is that this isn't uncommon practice in product design.

OP - thanks for reporting this is, as one would expect, a global move by RIM in relation to the PB.

Peace.

Edit: a little "proof in the pudding" i've just located...http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19753526

[BlackStormRising]

Amazon permanently shifted the market with respect to retail pricing for 7 inch tablets.

[Dukey Avalon]

You guys realize that this is the smartest move ever right?

Think about it...... get playbooks into the hands of as many people as possible..... then BAM!!!! Free update to BB10. Creates a HUGE installed user base for the BB10 Ecosystem. Which inturn should (hopefully) create people that WANT to buy a BB10 phone after experiencing it via Playbook! GENIUS!

Even if BB10 comes soon - which is doubtful based on RIM's performance over the last 2 years. Even is BB10 comes to the Playbook in a coherent fashion - which is doubtful based on RIM's performance over the last 2 years. Even if BB10 is competitive with current market offerings - which is doubtful based on RIM's performance over the last 2 years. Even if all of this comes to pass there is such a small satisfied user base for the Playbook that should they each buy 2 phones it will be statistically irrelevant in handset sales.

The price drop wasn't a tactical move, it wasn't a marketing ploy, it wasn't intelligent design. It was simple necessitiy because RIM delivered a good device with an absolute trash operating system. Other than to a few early adopters who paid full price (like me), this device is incapable of commanding top dollar.

[kevinnugent]

Amazon permanently shifted the market with respect to retail pricing for 7 inch tablets.

Yes, they did. It will be interesting to see what the mini ipad sells for too.

[bitek]

You can now buy a new 64GB Playbook here for $199 and free shipping. That's very sad.

what so sad about it ? competition is stiff and previous management really screwed up the launch. let rim sell out first generation of ph and come up with second generation with lower costs so it can compete properly and make money.

Sent from my BlackBerry Playbook using Tapatalk 2

[kevinnugent]

what so sad about it ? competition is stiff and previous management really screwed up the launch. let rim sell out first generation of ph and come up with second generation with lower costs so it can compete properly and make money.

Sent from my BlackBerry Playbook using Tapatalk 2

But are they making a Gen 2 device? I haven't ever heard that. Only a 10" version, maybe.

[kbz1960]

Wouldn't the 4G one be second generation?

[kevinnugent]

But does that change the wifi only version?

[o. l. t.]

Amazon permanently shifted the market with respect to retail pricing for 7 inch tablets.

Truth, but the Amazon tablet is horrible. They put the light sensor right where your hand would be and AFTER they released it they realized it..... derp. The power button is where you are expected to hold it so you turn it off constantly, the speakers are where the other hand goes and you can't hear them both due to the fact they are facing the wrong way, and you have your hand over them.... nevermind the fact they simply aren't that loud anyway. The OS is more polished than android, but OMG trying to type ANYTHING on the keyboard looks.like.this.and.then.every.word.is.corrected.t o.something.you.didn't.want.in.the.first.place. After wiping it and installing a custom ICS rom I began to like my Kindle, but it was still plagued with bad design and lack of hardware. That tablet at any price above $199 would have caused it to be returned immediately. It was at the top of it's price range for anyone who actually bought one and attempted to use it for anything other than watching movies....... which is all it did well..... if you could hear them.

The Playbook hardware is integrated much more intelligently, and there's more of it. The OS is really good AS LONG as you can sideload. If RIM makes good on their promise to remove that in a future update you'll see Playbooks selling for $4.99 in the produce section at Walmart. A nice tablet with literally NO content and shadetree developers doing the best they can, but still not even a Netflix app with Silverlight embedded so we can actually watch a movie. As a Mac owner, no Netflix app workaround at ALL in my case.

The Playbook has fell into an unfortunate spot where RIM is failing to the other more popular choices. Manufacturers see no reason to develop software for a dead tablet and predictably dead brand the way things have been going.

If RIM wants the Playbook to sell and succeed at ALL, they need to quit trying to lock it up to a store with no content and no major developers or manufacturer support and let the OS be open to user development. It's not like RIM doesn't have other things to worry about than screwing their customers by making it impossible to get content on their devices. Perhaps use some of that effort on not going bankrupt. Seems to be an issue as of late...........

[esk369]

It will be interesting to see what the imini sells for and I agree to a large extent the 7 in tablet price point has been somewhat established by some corporate entities.
As far as dumping pbs in the landfill rather then tarnish the brand?
If a mini ipad comes to market for a competitive price would that nullify the whole landfill argument?
And I hope Apple does come out with a competitively priced tab its a win for consumers.
I would be seriously pissed if I payed full price for the pb but the landfill thing is a bit much.

[kbz1960]

But does that change the wifi only version?

Can't say. I haven't heard anything on a wifi only version like the 4G without the 4G. Or any other tablet plans that is any more than speculation.

[Bumble2000]

I'm firmly in the 'this is a good move by rim' camp. one of the best ways to overcome the lingering misperceptions is to lower the barrier for people to try themselves. I've seen firsthand an apple fan (my brother) completely change his view after buying a low price pb...he was surprised how much he likes it.

also, with new titles like bard's tale, that is truly a tier-1 game that rivals any of it's genre on any tab platform, my view is that there is more momentum for the pb not less. and the recent rim quarterly result of an increasing subscriber base of 80million as the market for the common qnx based bb10 os, I think that can only build more momentum for the pb.

[AcADIeN]

the price drop on pretty much anything when there's a new device coming out isn't it ? like with 4g and a faster processor?

[esk369]

Yes and I applaud rim for being realistic enough to take the hit and get them out.
That being said I do feel bad for the faithful for paying full price and feeling pissed about and I think rim should do something for them on that end to mend the hard feelings and make their hard core customers well still customers.

[kill_9]

The price drop wasn't a tactical move, it wasn't a marketing ploy, it wasn't intelligent design. It was simple necessitiy because RIM delivered a good device with an absolute trash operating system. Other than to a few early adopters who paid full price (like me), this device is incapable of commanding top dollar.

Actually the BlackBerry PlayBook operating system is very smooth and easy to navigate. The failure has been on the applications side although there are a few gems in BlackBerry AppWorld worth purchasing and using on a daily or weekly basis. Marketing, or the lack of marketing, doomed the BlackBerry PlayBook to bargain basement pricing despite the exceptionally high-quality engineering of the hardware and operating system. I do not think Research In Motion fully appreciates its own creation.

[Tre Lawrence]

I just returned a Nexus 7. I read a review that said it was the best Android tablet bar none.

Bad review. It's not even in the top 10 IMO. Now, if we're talking about value, we could have a discussion.

[kill_9]

Yes and I applaud rim for being realistic enough to take the hit and get them out.
That being said I do feel bad for the faithful for paying full price and feeling pissed about and I think rim should do something for them on that end to mend the hard feelings and make their hard core customers well still customers.

I am not upset about paying full-price at original release in April 2011. I am very disappointed that Research In Motion has allowed this tablet to languish without any concerted marketing campaign during the past 18 months. And the slow pace of development of updates for BlackBerry Tablet OS is inexcusable from an one-time industry pioneer. For those whom paid full-price it would be a nice gesture if Research In Motion offered us a CAD/USD/GBP/EURO100.00 cash discount in the form of a coupon to be used when we buy a BlackBerry smartphone.

[Tre Lawrence]

I am not upset about paying full-price at original release in April 2011. I am very disappointed that Research In Motion has allowed this tablet to languish without any concerted marketing campaign during the past 18 months. And the slow pace of development of updates for BlackBerry Tablet OS is inexcusable from an one-time industry pioneer. For those whom paid full-price it would be a nice gesture if Research In Motion offered us a CAD/USD/GBP/EURO100.00 cash discount in the form of a coupon to be used when we buy a BlackBerry smartphone.

Not a crazy idea. Would be a nice gesture. Can RIM afford to, though?

[Lhendr]

Not if you're looking to buy.

Yes indeed. I bought another, the 64g because of the pricing and I am so happy I did. My sister is now the proud owner of my old PlayBook and she couldn't be more happier. We've also started video chatting and love it!

I am sorry that people bought it at such a high price but I see this as an opportunity for those who want to upgrade their devices or even get one.

[tagumcity]

I purchased a used 64GB for $165 shipped. These are solid tablets that will hold their own well into the next 2 or 3 years. Especially with BB10 layed on top of it.