[drudometkin]

At the end of the year I always go over my decisions over the past year and try to learn from my mistakes. Whether or not it was a good idea to sell those gold coins, or buy that mountain bike that I didn't use much, whatever it is. My biggest mistake this year was the playbook. I probably spent $850 on this thing including the accessories and its practically worthless now. ANY tablet except ipad has seen the value plummet as well. If I would have got the Xoom it would have been just as bad.

[Fat Bastage]

If you took that $850 and bought some Sept puts on RIM stock at the time of the playbook launched you would have around $20,000 in your account now.

[Serkle K]

IMO, the personal value of my PB will well trump the monetary value or loss of monetary value, as it has already changed many things for me daily, and has given me a greater return value.

Just MY opinion.

Although, I am now regretting having even a iPod touch, as I only ever use it when I am teaching a dance class, and I can even stop that now that I have my PlayBook. Keep in mind my iPod touch is a few years old. And since apple constantly puts out a new feature on the same device year after year and charges the same price year after year, I dont see why Ill ever need another iPod touch since I only use it for music storage. I dont even purchase any music off of iTunes, so being tied to the software is even more annoying then anything.

[miatared]

Early adopters always pay a price and it's always a gamble.

Yes Apple is on a roll, but let's not forget that Apple flirted with bankruptcy at least once... no one is immune.

I just got a 16 GB PB for $199 and yes it us a steal for a high quality device.

Looking back, RIM was not ready for this market and should have stuck to its core competency: secure email devices and good phones.

When giants like Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Google and more - all struggle against Apple and/or Amazon, one cannot be shocked to see RIM fail.

It's all about the ecosystems these companies built: apps for iPod/iPads, books for the Kindle. RIM is building its ecosystem, we'll see where it takes them, but it may be too late for the tablet!

My 2 cents and 1st post.

Denis

[robtanz]

Why would you expect any piece of technology to keep its monetary value? It is no investment to be sure. But if you have used it and enjoyed it and found it useful, like I have, then maybe it was worth it?

[cbvinh]

Are you lamenting that you bought a tablet and didn't need one so you wasted $850? Or did the Playbook, specifically, not fulfill you needs? There's hope in two months for the latter...

[ralfyguy]

Early adopters always pay a price and it's always a gamble.

Yes Apple is on a roll, but let's not forget that Apple flirted with bankruptcy at least once... no one is immune.

I just got a 16 GB PB for $199 and yes it us a steal for a high quality device.

Looking back, RIM was not ready for this market and should have stuck to its core competency: secure email devices and good phones.

When giants like Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Google and more - all struggle against Apple and/or Amazon, one cannot be shocked to see RIM fail.

It's all about the ecosystems these companies built: apps for iPod/iPads, books for the Kindle. RIM is building its ecosystem, we'll see where it takes them, but it may be too late for the tablet!

My 2 cents and 1st post.

Denis

RIM wasn't ready for the tablet market, because they failed to realize to start developing one when it was time. Other companies didn't sit back and watch how companies were selling them and make a killing off it. Then all the sudden they saw the potential and said: Oh man, look at that! We gotta make a tablet! Hurry!

[Daruba]

I invested (thus gambled) ones in a perfect woman. Beautiful skin, perfect hair and without any wrinkles.
Well, after some time the skin is not so smooth anymore, the hair is now a high maintenance item and wrinkles...well...very obvious.

With all the "degraded" properties I got a much more value for my investment. At least I know what I got and what she can do. It's much better now than what it was back in time.

What is "under the hood" is perfect! So, no, i'm not regretting my investment.

[Laura Knotek]

Pretty much everything loses value after some time. Think about how much value a new car loses the second it is driven off the lot. Even real estate, which used to be considered a sure thing to gain value, has tanked the past several years, so many people are living in houses worth less than the loans they are still paying.

[hpjrt]

Over the years, I have purchased a few cars that fall under that category - and I don't mean the traditional 50% loss once you drive off the lot!

I think there are lots of items purchased that lose value in tha buyer's mind. My playbook, however, isn't one in my case.

I'm wondering if the OP went to the forum attached to his "wasted money" moutain bike and informed them of his inability to get full value from his purchase?

[BBBrooklynFAN]

Those piling on the OP are missing the point.

ipad2, xoom and playbook were released at the same time at the same price point. Now used ipad is selling at 450, used xoom is selling at 320. A new playbook is 200 at firesale.

If your product is depreciating more than three times faster than the competition, good luck selling another one to the sucker who bought at early adopter prices.

[regnaston]

No tablet (base model) is worth more than $250 IMO.... just because some people are willing to buy it any any price, does not mean there is value there.


That said, if you liked it at what you bought it for, and yoiu still like it... then it does not matter what it is selling for now

[Fat Bastage]

No tablet (base model) is worth more than $250 IMO.... just because some people are willing to buy it any any price, does not mean there is value there.

this is a strange statement. I would argue that if 15 million people in 3 months are willing to pay for it "at any price" it absolutely does mean that there is value there.

[bb.pl]

At the end of the year I always go over my decisions over the past year and try to learn from my mistakes. Whether or not it was a good idea to sell those gold coins, or buy that mountain bike that I didn't use much, whatever it is. My biggest mistake this year was the playbook. I probably spent $850 on this thing including the accessories and its practically worthless now. ANY tablet except ipad has seen the value plummet as well. If I would have got the Xoom it would have been just as bad.

ANY tablet except ipad has seen the value plummet as well....
Yes, But no other even half decent tablet has seen its value plummet like the playbook. , even the dead hp tablet sells for more than the tablet in the aftermarket.
The mistake was not buying the playbook but thinking RIM has the same business ethics and standards like other companies.

[RicThot]

At the end of the year I always go over my decisions over the past year and try to learn from my mistakes. Whether or not it was a good idea to sell those gold coins, or buy that mountain bike that I didn't use much, whatever it is. My biggest mistake this year was the playbook. I probably spent $850 on this thing including the accessories and its practically worthless now. ANY tablet except ipad has seen the value plummet as well. If I would have got the Xoom it would have been just as bad.

If I had paid that amount of money on a playbook, I would feel the same!
But no, I paid mine 199$ and feel like I'm the one who screwed RIM!

I do get your point, but as others have expressed, thats a risk you have to be willing to take when you buy something based on promises and marketing pitch... rather than taking a step back, and see how it goes!

[bbfan1040]

MANY of us early adopters HAVE purchased a second PB at lowered prices. And, we are glad we did!
The hardware is fantastic!
The apps released recently are outstanding.
Thanks RIMM for not giving up.

[brucep1]

Early adopters always pay a price and it's always a gamble.

Why would you expect any piece of technology to keep its monetary value? It no investment to be sure. But if you have used it and enjoyed it and found it useful, like I have, then maybe it was worth it?

Pretty much everything loses value after some time.

The iPad 1 has more resale value than the PlayBook. Yes, I know technology loses value over time, but the HP Touchpad and Playbook took that idea to the extreme.

Those piling on the OP are missing the point.

ipad2, xoom and playbook were released at the same time at the same price point. Now used ipad is selling at 450, used xoom is selling at 320. A new playbook is 200 at firesale.

If your product is depreciating more than three times faster than the competition, good luck selling another one to the sucker who bought at early adopter prices.

BINGO

[BBBrooklynFAN]

The biggest damage the playbook does to research in motion is to its reputation, among industry insiders, journalists and consumers. The last one of course is killer.

[conix67]

Any person who paid what OP paid for PB would be on the same boat. Don't try to deny it.

I'm a happy PB user because I didn't pay that much for it. I paid for what it's worth. A lot of others on this forum are happy with PB, mainly because they paid what they are worth now.

Of course, there are few on this forum with load of $$$ who would be willing to pay millions for a PB and not regret.

[cfarm3]

"Investment" in the true sense of the worth implies appreciation in value. You don't buy new technology products for investments. The resale is only an issue if you're a person who turns over their gadgets yearly in pursuit of the latest and greatest in which case you're losing money on an annual basis no matter what you're buying.

[llllBULLSEYE]

Yeah you're right
But you always take a chance buying technology or
anything in this world.
You kinda pay the price sometimes if you wanna be
one of the first to own a product.

[BBBrooklynFAN]

Yeah you're right
But you always take a chance buying technology or
anything in this world.
You kinda pay the price sometimes if you wanna be
one of the first to own a product.

Care to wager on the chances the OP will "take a chance" on the next BB product at launch?

[omniusovermind]

Early adopters always pay a price and it's always a gamble.

Yes Apple is on a roll, but let's not forget that Apple flirted with bankruptcy at least once... no one is immune.

I just got a 16 GB PB for $199 and yes it us a steal for a high quality device.

Looking back, RIM was not ready for this market and should have stuck to its core competency: secure email devices and good phones.

When giants like Samsung, Sony, Motorola, Google and more - all struggle against Apple and/or Amazon, one cannot be shocked to see RIM fail.

It's all about the ecosystems these companies built: apps for iPod/iPads, books for the Kindle. RIM is building its ecosystem, we'll see where it takes them, but it may be too late for the tablet!

My 2 cents and 1st post.

Denis

bolded part of quote for emphasis. for $200 you can throw this thing away in 6-12 months and not feel that bad about it. I always tend to try and stay just a tad behind current trends for this reason. Everytime I've bought sometyhing brand new to the market I was upset at how quickly it dropped in price mere months later so I don't do it anymore. Ok well.. I did do it on my latest laptop but I'll get about 2 years out of that before it becomes really dated and lappys aren't new to the tech world. You gotta spoil yourself sometimes

[conix67]

"Investment" in the true sense of the worth implies appreciation in value. You don't buy new technology products for investments. The resale is only an issue if you're a person who turns over their gadgets yearly in pursuit of the latest and greatest in which case you're losing money on an annual basis no matter what you're buying.

I'm sure everyone understands this. Resale value is a non-issue if you are keeping it and happy with it.

However, PB's pricing situation is unique, still better than HP TouchPad, but unique. It surely would make things bitter for early adapters.

[glamrlama]

Value and/or Price are two different things.

The price of electronics has always come down. A big win for consumers. No one should be buying consumer electronics expecting them to go up in value. My TV was $1200 when I bought it new. If it could be bought for the price of 1$ the next day it does not change its value to me. Would I be pissed? mostly likely but the value of the TV has not changed and I still love it today. I have no intention of ever doing anything other than watching TV on it and using it until it fails. Early adopters ALWAYS pay the price to have the latest tech first.

If the retail price was identical today compared to what you paid there is still no difference in what the tablet is capable of. However prices ALWAYS come down and the market has decided the retail PRICE. I would suggest that the VALUE of the tablet has gone up. It is more capable and thus more VALUABLE than at launch.