[Megacharge]

It would have sold more, rim would have lost money on each sale and it did not happen so .......

At 200$ RIM is only losing 5 to 15 bucks per 16GB Playbook sold. They are still making profit on the 32GB's and 64GB's at their prices. Plus they still make cash in their App World. If they had these prices from the start, their App World would have had a ton more developers, they would be making a ton more cash off it, and RIM would have been sitting very pretty right now and probably even out selling the iPad.

They can still achieve a lot on their next tablet release, and I think if all goes well and they learned something from this time around, on their next tablet release they can turn their tablet market share around very nicely.

[narci]

um no. i think you need to look up the history of the hp touchpad. it was definitely not cheap when it first came out.

Exactly...nobody bought it when it was full price for what, a month max?

After it was dicounted, it was selling like hotcakes which proves my point, price plays a huge factor.

[conix67]

At 200$ RIM is only losing 5 to 15 bucks per 16GB Playbook sold. They are still making profit on the 32GB's and 64GB's at their prices. Plus they still make cash in their App World. If they had these prices from the start, their App World would have had a ton more developers, they would be making a ton more cash off it, and RIM would have been sitting very pretty right now and probably even out selling the iPad.

They can still achieve a lot on their next tablet release, and I think if all goes well and they learned something from this time around, on their next tablet release they can turn their tablet market share around very nicely.

As far as I know, the BOM cost for 16GB PB is close to $300. That does not factor in distribution cost, storage, and sales. They are not producing many 32GB or 64GB units, and there's not much demand for them even at lowered prices.

Yes, the App World is supposed to be also good source of revenue, but they need Apps! Popular Apps like Angry Birds. However, I doubt they have out sold IPads regardless.

[purijagmohan]

As far as I know, the BOM cost for 16GB PB is close to $300. That does not factor in distribution cost, storage, and sales.

RIM says they have a gross margin of 1% on Playbooks sold.So I think BOM is close to 199 bucks.

[conix67]

RIM says they have a gross margin of 1% on Playbooks sold.So I think BOM is close to 199 bucks.

Link please, if RIM has made official statement about this.

Articles suggest otherwise, but the range starts at $190.

Estimates vary, but several analyst firms believe it costs RIM anywhere between US$190 and $US270 in components to build a 16 GB PlayBook (RIM has not publicly disclosed how much it costs the company to build a PlayBook). Of course, that doesn�t include the R&D dollars associated with the device, or marketing, transport, distribution and other associated costs.

But even if it costs $190 to build, RIM takes huge loss on device sales by selling it at $199.

[theegoldenone]

At 200$ RIM is only losing 5 to 15 bucks per 16GB Playbook sold. They are still making profit on the 32GB's and 64GB's at their prices. Plus they still make cash in their App World. If they had these prices from the start, their App World would have had a ton more developers, they would be making a ton more cash off it, and RIM would have been sitting very pretty right now and probably even out selling the iPad.

They can still achieve a lot on their next tablet release, and I think if all goes well and they learned something from this time around, on their next tablet release they can turn their tablet market share around very nicely.

Hate to split atoms but the title suggests ONLY the 16g model, the other models shouldn't even had been brought up and F2's point would be valid.

[anon(55900)]

If it had been $399.00 last July 2011 it would have blown every other Tablet out of the water just on price alone. I hesitated at the time because I was ready to buy and try a tablet, firstly I couldn't find a seller in town with a single working model let alone a sales person who knew anything.

Xoom's were going for $498.00 so not knowing any better and thought bigger screen was better, (nope) went that way. Well, PB price dropped, Best Buy finally had working models and believe it not, my wife wanted one. I bought two, sold the Xoom and all accessories and ain't look'n back.

Very, very happy with PB and Wife gets her tomorrow Christmas day, she doesn't know yet that I bought any, as well as covers and pod chargers. From the reports of those playing on beta os2, that update sounds exciting!

Michaelaw

[anon(55900)]

At 200$ RIM is only losing 5 to 15 bucks per 16GB Playbook sold. They are still making profit on the 32GB's and 64GB's at their prices. Plus they still make cash in their App World. If they had these prices from the start, their App World would have had a ton more developers, they would be making a ton more cash off it, and RIM would have been sitting very pretty right now and probably even out selling the iPad.

They can still achieve a lot on their next tablet release, and I think if all goes well and they learned something from this time around, on their next tablet release they can turn their tablet market share around very nicely.

I don't think making profits off Tablets is a valid business point for sellers, they need to be like Game Boxes (whatever make). Sell the device for cost or loss, make it up on all the selling of apps, music, books and movies made by end consumers!

[Megacharge]

I don't think making profits off Tablets is a valid business point for sellers, they need to be like Game Boxes (whatever make). Sell the device for cost or loss, make it up on all the selling of apps, music, books and movies made by end consumers!

I covered that. Basically if their tablets were cheap enough in the beginning more people would have bought em, and tons of devs would have flocked to the Playbook to make apps for all those people. It didn't quite work out that way though, but there is still a chance to reverse that a bit, and I think RIM is doing a great job at trying to.

[Megacharge]

Hate to split atoms but the title suggests ONLY the 16g model, the other models shouldn't even had been brought up and F2's point would be valid.

Sure, but it indirectly suggests the other models would be 299 and 399 respectively. RIM wouldn't charge 199 for 16GB and then 599 for the 32GB and 699 for the 64GB. Obviously if the 16GB was 199 from the start, the others would be 100 more each respectively. No need to worry about splitting atoms, my points are valid, and yes the other models needed to have been brought up.

[ridemaster]

it is worth what its worth and to me thats every penny of the 499 price tag. but at 199 its a flippin steal.

i dont think market share is the best word to use but at 199 they get them out there and ppl realize how much more powerful the pb is compared to others(respectively).

[Megacharge]

As far as I know, the BOM cost for 16GB PB is close to $300.

No it's not actually, it's about 10 to 15 bucks more than the Kindle Fire.

[conix67]

No it's not actually, it's about 10 to 15 bucks more than the Kindle Fire.

Seems like you have insider info or something. What's been published on internet are estimates based on component prices other vendors are paying. Even that is varying from $190 to $270 as some articles suggests. Kindle Fire is supposed to cost over $200 anyway, but that again have varying reports.

Anyway, other than App World sales, RIM loses a lot of money on PB sales at current discounted price. Material cost is one thing, but there are other costs to the business which add up quickly. If material costs $199 and sell at $199, who's going to cover labor, shipping, distribution, storage, sale, and other operating cost? My guess is they would have to sell PB at $299 not to lose money on sales.

This is why HP made a quick decision to quit tablet business. It's a tough market.

[Megacharge]

Seems like you have insider info or something. What's been published on internet are estimates based on component prices other vendors are paying. Even that is varying from $190 to $270 as some articles suggests. Kindle Fire is supposed to cost over $200 anyway, but that again have varying reports.

Anyway, other than App World sales, RIM loses a lot of money on PB sales at current discounted price. Material cost is one thing, but there are other costs to the business which add up quickly. If material costs $199 and sell at $199, who's going to cover labor, shipping, distribution, storage, sale, and other operating cost? My guess is they would have to sell PB at $299 not to lose money on sales.

This is why HP made a quick decision to quit tablet business. It's a tough market.

They are still making profit on the 32GB and 64GB.

[esqlaw]

They should've released at $399. It sends a message that its not a bargain item but a full item that is reduced in price because a smaller screen.

[conix67]

They are still making profit on the 32GB and 64GB.

Not sure about that while they are selling 32GB model at $249. 64GB at $399 they will probably make money, but not many people are interested in 64GB device.

As you can see most people are buying 16GB model. I have not seen exactly figure anywhere, but when I got my 16GB model, FutureShop Canada online store had ~2000 16GB models, <100 32GB and 64GB models each. Within hours, all 16GB models were sold out followed by 32GB, but they still had plenty of 64GB models left.

[anon(55900)]

I covered that. Basically if their tablets were cheap enough in the beginning more people would have bought em, and tons of devs would have flocked to the Playbook to make apps for all those people. It didn't quite work out that way though, but there is still a chance to reverse that a bit, and I think RIM is doing a great job at trying to.

I agree, IMO it seems RIM has taken to heart that it cannot release almost ready for market products and fix as you go on, (as they an many others have done)

OS2 for PB and OS10 have to come out kick'n from the get go or it will be the end of RIM as we know it. It appears the only real way to sell against iPad is lower price.

Even if PB had been all that is promised in OS2, it still might not have still sold well, everyone who has tried to get into the Tablet market has been bitten in one way or the other (except of course, Apple)

Michaelaw

[DaveTheA]

RIM would have been smart to sell the 16G Playbook at cost initially, and make a smaller profit on the 32G and 64G models. I bought my 64g at full intro price, and if I hadn't been a Blackberry fan AND had the cash to spend, I might very well have looked at the [many] options available. As it was, I looked hard at some small laptops and netbooks for a similar price.

But RIM wasn't smart. The high initial cost and rudimentary level of OS development last spring probably discouraged a lot of potential buyers. It certainly alienated tech reviewers. RIM can still win back the buyer base if they keep prices down and OS 2.0 is as successful as everybody hopes. However it's going take something pretty wonderful happening to encourage demand and justify a higher, more profitable price.

[omniusovermind]

Not sure about that while they are selling 32GB model at $249. 64GB at $399 they will probably make money, but not many people are interested in 64GB device.

As you can see most people are buying 16GB model. I have not seen exactly figure anywhere, but when I got my 16GB model, FutureShop Canada online store had ~2000 16GB models, <100 32GB and 64GB models each. Within hours, all 16GB models were sold out followed by 32GB, but they still had plenty of 64GB models left.

easy answer: it's the cheapest
but also the smartest IMO. Wherever your playbook goes so does your phone, and if you have a phone with a 32GB or more microSD plus internal storage, you can access all that storage from your PB instantly, and stream it as well. You'll be able to use your micro SD with several devices. Your extra $ to buy a larger PB model is only good for that PB. There's also compact portable hard drives that work with the Playbook without needing a computer to plug in with up to 500 GB storage for $200 and you can use that for all your other devices as well.

[southlander]

It's a bit complicated. You always sell a product based on what the market will bear. Not the cost to produce. So then because it became obvious the "market" did not feel the PB was worth what an iPad is, RIM had to cut the price. So then it is a question of timing. I think they timed it as well as they could. Got the price down in time for the holiday selling season. And even so a lot of people that paid full price seem ticked off.

Point being it is a lot easier to cut a price than raise it. So RIM had to see what it was worth. Amazon had the benefit of seeing all these non Apple tablets priced to match the iPad fail. They knew what to charge.

I suppose there were people telling RIM to price the PB lower to start as well. They turned out to be right.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[TeaBoy]

what if noone bought it at 200? then they have to sell it at 29.99? anyways it was a loselose situation for rim, the biggest problem is app. yeah you can use browser for most things but people are lazy and like to download app.

[Tre Lawrence]

Yep... hindsight is fantastic.

Still, I think it was priced way too high. They should have learned from the epic misstep formally known as the Moto Xoom. That was a 10-incher with a better ecosystem, and Moto bungled it.

[lebob23]

Either way it would cost $250 or less now just to compete with the nook

[Tre Lawrence]

what if noone bought it at 200? then they have to sell it at 29.99? anyways it was a loselose situation for rim, the biggest problem is app. yeah you can use browser for most things but people are lazy and like to download app.

With all due respect, this is the type of thinking that got RIM so far behind in the first place. Even if what you say (that browsers are fine for "most" things) is true (which it isn't), people want their smartphones to make stuff easier. I guess that is what you refer to as "laziness."

If preferring to drive somewhere over taking a camel ride for a month is lazy, find me a tattoo artist so i can wear that title proudly.

[omniusovermind]

If The playbook were just released as it is right now for $400+ I would seriously consider paying that much for it. for people that prefer the 7" size the software performs better than any of the current equivalent android offerings and is built better hardware wise as well. I wouldn't pay that much for how it was on release date though. Mine was $200 which is coffee money to me, and frankly that's all I'm willing to pay for sure for ANY tablet. They're not far along enough in device evolution for me to invest any more than that. I can throw away a $200 device in a few months without feeling married to it.