[[email protected]]

Also had a thought about pricing. How the heck is TELUS (or any carrier) going to price a 3G/LTE version for above the sale prices going on now? Easy, subsidized PB when signing up for a 1,2,3 year data plan.

Forcing consumers into data plans will fail. This is why Apple has a 3G iPad(which) I own but always consumer to decided when they want to untilize the service. Without an extended term contract.

A forced contract, and this will fail.

According to some Sprint Coporate insiders, the reason they didn't launch the PB is because they were working on their getting their LTE infrastructure built and wanted the PB LTE ready.

[app_Developer]

I enable the 3G on my iPad only when traveling. And in London I use a cutdown O2 SIM in it. I think I only pay AT&T about $80/yr for all the 3G I really need.

So I would need a $350 subsidy or more to make it even worth considering a contract for an iPad.

Maybe the Playbook with contract would be free? That would be interesting.

[oilgeo10]

In 5 pages of posts have any of you stopped to consider that it would not have even dawned on most people to shop at a mobile carrier store for a Playbook? They're probably sitting on crap nobody's buying because they're all going to BBuy/Walmart/whatever big box and they want to sell these units. And they're undercutting the big box stores to do so.

I believe that. I never gave Telus a thought when looking at tablets and I am a Telus customer for home phone & internet! I was only aware of a promotion for a new phone contract that gave the buyer a free Samsung Galaxy tablet. However, there were consumer complaints reported on this promotion, seems the conditions in the fine print to qualify for the freebee were fairly restrictive.

3G tablets are more expensive. If sold by a carrier, they are almost always attached to a multi-year data contract, just like a phone. No one would by a 3G tab if all they were going to do was tether it or use wifi.

Telus is selling their smartphone/tablet packages as one dataplan. So I think you would get a matching sim card for each device. This should be almost the same as tethering but the 3G connection would be faster and makes the tablet a bit more portable.

If wifi outsells 3G for tablets, manufacturers should know this and be making a tablet equipped for both features. If that ability is there, this better be what RIM is doing with the new Playbook rumored for spring or summer release. The pricing levels of the current wifi only Playbooks suggests that they are getting rid of the inventory at costs designed to get back some of their production cost and prepare for the new 3G model. Based on the Telus sale, I'm going to assume the other sellers will also be going to a final clearance soon, probably soon after the current promotion ends Feb 10th. Would be surprised if RIM continues offering a wifi only model after the PB 1.0 inventory is all gone.

[louzer]

Playbooks are selling at firesale prices leading up to the launch of 2.0. It's clear that retailers are clearing out inventory just like they might on a 10 month old Android phone. It makes sense.

The retailers are clearing out inventory, but no one has any idea what kind of inventory RIM is actually sitting on. All of these moves are putting Playbooks into the hands of people who might never have bought one. These people also probably only bought a Playbook because they (thought they) needed a tablet of some sort. These same people probably don't own a BB phone.

2.0 is on the verge of release, and it looks to make a splash once it arrives. The only problem is that it's a product release that will not, itself, generate revenue.

The 3G Playbook is not slated to be sold for at least a few months. Given RIM's position, they need a constant flow of cash coming in to keep investors happpy. They've already taken the write-down. Any revenue from Playbooks is therefore revenue.

My thoughts are that once 2.0 hits, there will be lots of non-BB users who are pumped about their Playbooks. RIM has announced that it is going to aggressively market OS 7 devices. I wouldn't be surprised to see commercials for the OS 7 phones paired to Playbooks showing off the enhanced bridging functionality.

It will be, after all, the OS 7 devices sales that RIM needs to sustain for the next couple of quarters that will carry them (perhaps limping) into OS 10. All of these Playbooks will a) introduce people to what BB10 will be like, b) give a potential marketing advantage to BB7 phones.

Given that the BB10 phones are going to be the high-end flagship devices, they will be priced (at their launch) higher than BB7 devices. I think that BB10 will not spell the end of BB7 - it will simply place BB7 as the low end of their product line. BB7 users will still be able to enjoy the PB 2.0 (a BB10-like experience) - just on a tablet and not on their phone.

After the launch of PB 2.0, I see RIM launching a major campaign using the Playbooks only to promote BB7 to carry them to Q3 for the BB10 launch.

[speedypear]

It is old stock. I got one of the 32gb and the product date on the box was the same as the 32gb I bought in April.

Yeah, the one I picked up yesterday from Telus was old stock as well, complete with the slightly recessed power button.

[alnamvet68]

I enable the 3G on my iPad only when traveling. And in London I use a cutdown O2 SIM in it. I think I only pay AT&T about $80/yr for all the 3G I really need.

So I would need a $350 subsidy or more to make it even worth considering a contract for an iPad.

Maybe the Playbook with contract would be free? That would be interesting.

Let's say that would be so, and let's assume that a 2 year contract at about $40.00/month (low side if you ask me) is required,? that would put the cost of the PB at over $1000.00 when you figure in all those non-sense extra charges and taxes; hardly a bargain, wouldn't you say?

[BuzzStarField]

If 2.0 is really just around the corner, why is RIM still slashing prices?

$149 for a 32GB at Telus, that is starting to sound like the end.
Think HP had the same price when they pulled out of the tablet game?


Surely it would have been better to wait a couple weeks for 2.0 to hit,
and then sell at a higher price with the new demand ...

Sorry to disappoint you but RIM is doing this at my request. My app is selling very well since the recent update but I am greedy. I want more customers so I can sell more apps so I can quit my day job and write PB apps full-time.

[nasa25]

Even though a v2 playbook has been highly rumoured, I still can't get my head around it actually being released given the fact that RIM took a major bath on v1.

If it does see the light of day, RIM better have a rock solid, PROFITABLE plan to market and sell these things.

[blue-b]

I agree with the common sense of Telus doing it on thier own, no other major Canadian retailer is selling at that price point, this isn't RIM pricing. It would make sense they are moving stock for lte/3g playbook possibly, they are primarily a cellular and phone company.

[alnamvet68]

I agree with the common sense of Telus doing it on thier own, no other major Canadian retailer is selling at that price point, this isn't RIM pricing. It would make sense they are moving stock for lte/3g playbook possibly, they are primarily a cellular and phone company.

That's right; I said that early on, it's a Telus thing, but after 84 posts, people still don't get it.

[auditman]

Let's say that would be so, and let's assume that a 2 year contract at about $40.00/month (low side if you ask me) is required,? that would put the cost of the PB at over $1000.00 when you figure in all those non-sense extra charges and taxes; hardly a bargain, wouldn't you say?

But that's for the carrier not for rim. That's why for me current pb tethered will do the job.

[dandbj13]

Your note and others refer to the 3G tablets as slow sellers...

The 64GB 3G iPad is the top-selling and most-expensive model, accounting for 1/3 of sales, and has no multi-month data contract or carrier subsidy.

Folks see the functionality and the various models and say "I can get the top of the line for only $829? Ring it up." The second best seller is the $499 16GB wifi only, since many buyers of any product buy the entry-level model.

The 3G buyer can activate 3G month to month, or leave it off and only activate it for summer vacation road trips or whatever.



Only a slim minority of 3G tablets sold are other than iPad, so 3G tablets (even if sold by a carrier) are ALMOST NEVER attached to a multi-year data contract."

Any word on the 3G Playbook being unsubsidized like the iPad and sold with a month-to month plan? That would really be a big plus for folks looking at it as a second device.

Bottom line - iPad dominates tablet sales, 3G models are significant (perhaps the majority) of iPad sales, so 3G tablets are NOT slow sellers at all. Month-to-month unsubsidized sales model encourages folks to "try" 3G, knowing they can dump the charge if they decide wifi is enough.

The only way to have this discussion is to keep pretending there is a tablet market and not just an iPad market. Apple had the pull to make a special deal with the carriers for the no-contract, 3G iPad. RIM is not Apple and the PB is not the iPad. Non-iPad tablets are usually subsidized by the carrier and sold on contract. They simply do not sell to any appreciable degree.

Apple does not need a price subsidy to move the more expensive iPads. Everyone else does. RIM most certainly does. That subsidy comes with a contract. I would love to see RIM sell a 3G model without being tied to a carrier contract. Few outside of Apple have managed it. In any event, non-iPad, 3G tablets are, by far, the worst sellers.

[app_Developer]

Let's say that would be so, and let's assume that a 2 year contract at about $40.00/month (low side if you ask me) is required,? that would put the cost of the PB at over $1000.00 when you figure in all those non-sense extra charges and taxes; hardly a bargain, wouldn't you say?

Oh, on AT&T we pay $20/mo for iPad connectivity, which I use for about 4 months out of the year. I was just assuming the same rate for a 3G Playbook.

So, yeah, at that rate then the subsidy is not likely to be $300. Even $200 might be a stretch. But a $99 Playbook with contract might still be interesting to some people.

[robsteve]

On the 3G PlayBooks the carrier and Rim will also be able to collect a BIS fee to put BBM and other BlackBerry specific features on the PlayBook. I bet some people would buy them just to get BBM and BBM connected apps.

[FreeJACLive]

I managed to grab two myself. Was out by 10:00am everywhere in Edmonton at the Telus stores. I had to drive 1hr out of town to get the only two that were given to that store. BB and FS were not doing price matching, due to limited quantities. This was only a Telus thing at least for now.

[palmless]

The only way to have this discussion is to keep pretending there is a tablet market and not just an iPad market. Apple had the pull to make a special deal with the carriers for the no-contract, 3G iPad. RIM is not Apple and the PB is not the iPad. Non-iPad tablets are usually subsidized by the carrier and sold on contract. They simply do not sell to any appreciable degree.

Apple does not need a price subsidy to move the more expensive iPads. Everyone else does. RIM most certainly does. That subsidy comes with a contract. I would love to see RIM sell a 3G model without being tied to a carrier contract. Few outside of Apple have managed it. In any event, non-iPad, 3G tablets are, by far, the worst sellers.

Call the market "Non iPad Tablets, Excluding Kindle Fire".

PB is solidly on the podium in that market, I believe.

In any event, the most expensive 64GB 3G model is the top selling model of the tablet that makes up nearly all sales.

[Oldrio]

I picked up a 32GB at a Local Staples for the Telus price . !@ Got Lucky also have a 16GB on the Latest 2 beta. The 1.08 or what ever it's at is quite a bit better .
I'm really starting to like the Playbook interaction. I even got the Citrix receiver to work with CAG. At that price it's a unbelievable deal. the 32GB does have the recessed power button. Unfortunatley I believe the ver 2 update will be just a small blip in the Tablet world. A Playbook 3G would probably sell in similar numbers to the 1st Gen Playbook. Who wants a contract , as another member mentioned. As long as we get some more good APPS and development continues , hopefully RIM can keep it up.

[zmi007]

i just bought a 32gb and guess what it seems rim does not have any stock the product date was 15122011 so this is a new production. i love PB with this price i have one my wife one my kids one .

[nasa25]

i just bought a 32gb and guess what it seems rim does not have any stock the product date was 15122011 so this is a new production. i love PB with this price i have one my wife one my kids one .

You're assuming that's manufacture date. I don't think it is. I think it's box date. I sent my PB in for an RMA fix and the box it was returned in had the same sticker with a date of "14012012". RIM might be assembling new PB's with parts they have on hand, but there surely isn't a full scale manufacture going on.

They made way too many PB's and have sold only a fraction of what was made. Still tons of stock left.

[auditman]

You're assuming that's manufacture date. I don't think it is. I think it's box date. I sent my PB in for an RMA fix and the box it was returned in had the same sticker with a date of "14012012". RIM might be assembling new PB's with parts they have on hand, but there surely isn't a full scale manufacture going on.

They made way too many PB's and have sold only a fraction of what was made. Still tons of stock left.

And you know this personally? Where is the proof they only sold a fraction?

[nasa25]

And you know this personally? Where is the proof they only sold a fraction?

Well based on sales that were reported up to a month ago vs. the value of their inventory (pre-writedown). There was a big thread about this maybe 6 weeks ago that runs through all the numbers.

I recall that best estimates put the number at over 1-1.5M still in inventory, some of which would obviously have been sold in the past couple months.

[melb_me]

Well they probably have a unit target they want to hit. I'm kinda hoping it would be the 1 million mark. Would be nice to announce 2.0 and million devices at the same time. It would really give developers something to develop for now wouldn't it?

[CDM76]

Everyone is just over thinking / over analysing all things relating to RIM ... specifically the PlayBook. Its a sale, plain and simple.

[bdscds]

Makes sense to clear out as much old stock to release the newer version of playbook , But this is just a guess on my part!