[slalom]

Does anyone have any insight as to what is next for Playbook pricing?

In Canada, BestBuy and Futureshop have been saying that current pricing ($269, $289, $299) is good until January 28.

I can't imagine an increase to old pricing at this point, but was wondering if anyone has info on what might be next.

[blue-b]

I just got this weeks Staples flyer in Canada, and they have $199 16GB, and $249 32GB back until the 30th.

[That70sGAdawg]

l noticed yesterday that Office Depot in the US raised the 64GB unit that I paid $299 for two weeks ago back to $699. I'm assuming with OS 2.0 coming soon that the " sale" is Over!!

[app_Developer]

l noticed yesterday that Office Depot in the US raised the 64GB unit that I paid $299 for two weeks ago back to $699. I'm assuming with OS 2.0 coming soon that the " sale" is Over!!

To me, this will be the most interesting part of the OS2 release next month: what they will do with pricing?

If they do return to the original pricing, will people just wait until they are on sale again?

Or will RIM find some happy intermediate pricing between the on/off sales and the original price? With the on/off sales in different parts of the world from month to month, it does sort of make it difficult for consumers to time their purchases. Wouldn't it be better for everyone if RIM just chose prices for each size and stuck with them?

[gedvondur]

An important question to answer would be, "When will New Playbooks come with OS 2 pre-installed"?

I think that they will need to sell out the old stock opsys ver 1.x units before they can jack up the price. And the new package will likely be more expensive, but I think that they'll throw in a couple extra 'bones', like a free 30 day movie subscription, a pen maybe? A free docking charger? Maybe add 100 dollars or so and have people want a bundle at launch.
That's what I's do..... Original Hardware, new opsys, a couple bonuses that dollar wise add up to say, $150, but charge $100 more.

tl;dr, Same hardware, new opsys and loot!

[That70sGAdawg]

The one I got 2 weeks ago was made (or factory labeled) Dec 21, 2011, so they are still building, or labeling- Which is it?????

[diddlyuk]

Probably go down as the 3G one will be released soon! (Rumoured)

[peter9477]

The one I got 2 weeks ago was made (or factory labeled) Dec 21, 2011, so they are still building, or labeling- Which is it?????

Labelling.

That said, nobody really knows how many there were originally, nor for that matter to what stage they were all assembled.

I really doubt all 1.5M (just made up the number) were fully assembled, with batteries charged to 40% and installed, and packaged in big space-consuming boxes with English labels on them, way back in April or earlier last year.

Seems more likely to me that 1.5M motherboards were made, 1.5M cases were ready, 1.5M screens and other major parts were ready to go (since they thought they'd sell a lot more than they did at that price). Then they installed batteries, assembled and packed a few 100K, and shipped them out. Then got more batteries, assembled and packed those, and shipped a few more. In the summer, got another shipment of batteries, assembled, packed, labelled, etc.

In the fall, they assembled and packed a batch more, slapped on new labels with the dates we saw in November etc, and shipped those.

Maybe more, or fewer, were actually assembled. Maybe more, or fewer, actually had batteries already in them (since you don't want Lithium batteries to self-discharge for months and months, so maybe you don't even order those all up front). Maybe they had a whole mess of them fully assembled, but didn't bother boxing them since, after all, do you know to which countries you'll be shipping all of them in advance? (Are there boxes with non-English labels, for each country, or does every language get its own boxes? You can bet, if they do, that they didn't have all of those packaged back in April.)

So... what's "made", anyway? Nothing's black and white, apparently...

Pretty sure those dates are just dates of packaging though... certainly not when they were "made" (by most definitions we could all agree to accept).

[jafobabe]

AMEN To That!

[sasquatch99]

It seems to me most of the 64GBs from BB, FS, SBB and other large chain stores were packaged last April or May. The 64GB I got from The Source was packaged this month. This tells me the large chain stores still have tonnes of them in their warehouses whereas the smaller stores are sold out and getting resupplied from Taiwan.

My 64GB's PIN is 5021xxxx, so I assume they have made at least a couple of millions PBs.

As far as prices, I think people are conditioned to 199/249/299. I expect the prices will go up 50 or 100 dollars after the sales and drop back to these prices when the 3G PBs come out.

[cathulu15]

agreed, 199, 249 and 299 is the price they will sell, it might take rim a bit of back and forth to stabilize there. lower prices is not inconceivable... it would take new and substantially better hardware and software to get a better price imho.

the ship has sailed on anything over 300 with the current hardware and what we can expect with os2 and native apps so far reported. maybe i will be surprised but i think not.

[andino]

An important question to answer would be, "When will New Playbooks come with OS 2 pre-installed"?

I think that they will need to sell out the old stock opsys ver 1.x units before they can jack up the price. And the new package will likely be more expensive, but I think that they'll throw in a couple extra 'bones', like a free 30 day movie subscription, a pen maybe? A free docking charger? Maybe add 100 dollars or so and have people want a bundle at launch.
That's what I's do..... Original Hardware, new opsys, a couple bonuses that dollar wise add up to say, $150, but charge $100 more.

tl;dr, Same hardware, new opsys and loot!

There's no need for them to ship with OS2 since the setup always checks for a new OS. It will automatically download the latest OS.

[djnshores]

agreed, 199, 249 and 299 is the price they will sell, it might take rim a bit of back and forth to stabilize there. lower prices is not inconceivable... it would take new and substantially better hardware and software to get a better price imho.

the ship has sailed on anything over 300 with the current hardware and what we can expect with os2 and native apps so far reported. maybe i will be surprised but i think not.

I certainly agree. $299 is the upper level price point. Sales will dry up if RIM raises prices above that. There is a rumor that when the new iPad 3 comes out, price of the iPad 2 may drop to $299. That won't help RIM.

RIM needs to convince customers the Playbook is worth more than $299. Given all the bad PR, that's a tall order.

[snowindec9]

they going to raise the price up mainly because of os 2.so they had a sale leading up to feb.still there has been no word on the next gen of the pb.ipad 3 is going to dominate the tablet market until there is something to match it.

[Kaenon]

The one I got 2 weeks ago was made (or factory labeled) Dec 21, 2011, so they are still building, or labeling- Which is it?????

I got one on January 12th that said January 11th, 2012 on it...it is just a boxing label.

[eric89074]

RIM needs to convince customers the Playbook is worth more than $299. Given all the bad PR, that's a tall order.

Good luck with that RIM.

I doubt the iPad2 will drop to $299.00; Probably $399.00. If Apple decided to drop the hammer and make the iPad2 $349.00 when the iPad3 is released other tablet makers might as well give up. Either way iPad sales will trounce PB and other tablet sales for years to come.

they going to raise the price up mainly because of os 2.so they had a sale leading up to feb.still there has been no word on the next gen of the pb.ipad 3 is going to dominate the tablet market until there is something to match it.

There won't be anything that can match the iPad3. There still isn't anything that can match the iPad2.

BB has pigeonholed themselves to the $199.00 price and there's no going back. They're going to be in for a disappointment if they think they can raise the price back up when OS2 is released. The same goes if they decide to release a new PB. The majority of people will not pay premium prices for a non iPad tablet.

[vanfred1]

In the UK the prices are going up and down like a yoyo. I bought a 16gb PB just before Christmas for �169 and sold it for �20 more on eBay a week or so ago. Two days ago the retail price dropped again to �169.

I also bought a 64 GB Playbook for �210 just after Christmas and noticed that at least on eBay these seem to be going up in value.

So I really cannot get a handle on where 16GB prices are going but the 64GB are certainly getting more expensive.

[swyost]

Good luck with that RIM.

I doubt the iPad2 will drop to $299.00; Probably $399.00. If Apple decided to drop the hammer and make the iPad2 $349.00 when the iPad3 is released other tablet makers might as well give up. Either way iPad sales will trounce PB and other tablet sales for years to come.




There won't be anything that can match the iPad3. There still isn't anything that can match the iPad2.

BB has pigeonholed themselves to the $199.00 price and there's no going back. They're going to be in for a disappointment if they think they can raise the price back up when OS2 is released. The same goes if they decide to release a new PB. The majority of people will not pay premium prices for a non iPad tablet.

What exactly is the way an iPad actually trounces anything, other than with respect to convincing people that inferior components assembled in a chinese sweat shop are somehow superior. Personally, I don't think PB will ever have anything more than a niche market, but there is not necessarily anything wrong with that - one can make a good product and a lot of money in a well defined niche market. iPads sell because they were first to the market and Apple has an impressive PR machine. Android tablets don't sell because 1) many are junk, 2) the OS(s) are notoriously buggy, and 3) the app selection other than games is really not very good. Half a million pieces of garbage makes for a electronic landfill, not an app store. My bet is that in two years time, PB will have a moderate but stable and sustainable market share and people will be wondering how Apple lost so much of its tablet market to Microsoft/Windows 8, not Google/Android.

[BBPandy]

.......My bet is that in two years time, PB will have a moderate but stable and sustainable market share and people will be wondering how Apple lost so much of its tablet market to Microsoft/Windows 8, not Google/Android.

Thats what I think too....Windows 8 tablets & ultrabooks are going to really eat into the iPad market. After they come out there really won't be any reason to own an iPad...other then to be able to say "I have an iPad"

[balding1]

This week their going for $199, $249,$299, even if the new OS2 is everything as promised and more I still won't give a penny more for them.
They might try to wrap it up in bundle for more but like a previous poster said they pigeonholed themselves.
Even if new OS does come out in February, most peeps already bought one on sale and don't believe too many are sitting on the fence anymore on buying one.
So jack up the prices and BB will be back to square one with no one buying them.

[JeepBB]

There's no need for them to ship with OS2 since the setup always checks for a new OS. It will automatically download the latest OS.

True now, but may not be true in future.

One of RIM's forum surveys (IIRC) asked the question about making that step optional. It would probably still make the check for a newer OS, but you could skip the actual download.

I reckon RIM is learning... somebody has realised that buyers want to use their new toys straight away, and insisting they wait until they've downloaded a new OS (which isn't quick!) is off-putting and takes the shine away.

As to price. I can't see it going back up. The tablet market seems to have accepted that where we are now is the "right" price. None of the shops are going to say that though... they want to create a sense of urgency about purchasing now hence their statements that that the current sale prices end soon (with the implicit threat that they'll rise).

Can't see prices going up though.

[eric89074]

What exactly is the way an iPad actually trounces anything, other than with respect to convincing people that inferior components assembled in a chinese sweat shop are somehow superior. Personally, I don't think PB will ever have anything more than a niche market, but there is not necessarily anything wrong with that - one can make a good product and a lot of money in a well defined niche market. iPads sell because they were first to the market and Apple has an impressive PR machine. Android tablets don't sell because 1) many are junk, 2) the OS(s) are notoriously buggy, and 3) the app selection other than games is really not very good.

Apple does an excellent job of advertising their products, but that only goes so far if your product is a disappointment. The Playbook had good initial sales, but quickly after they dropped off a cliff after it was revealed to be an unfinished 7" tablet for $499.00. You also answered the question why Apple sells so many iPads. The hardware and build quality is excellent, and the software and app selection is as well. People will pay for quality, but you can't rush out an unfinished product and expect people to buy it just because it's a tablet and they're the hot new product.

Thats what I think too....Windows 8 tablets & ultrabooks are going to really eat into the iPad market. After they come out there really won't be any reason to own an iPad...other then to be able to say "I have an iPad"

Any decent Windows 8 tablets that runs the way Microsoft intends them to is going to cost a lot more than iPads because they're basically home PCs inside a tablet.

[balding1]

Well if this turns out to be true? Only place they can go price wise is down.
BlackBerry PlayBook 3G Specifications | CrackBerry.com

[slalom]

I need to buy two: one for next week, and one the week after. All the definitive ambivalence here isn't helping me time my purchase!

This will make a total of 6 I have purchased as gifts, plus my own. I should have gone to tender for a dozen!

[cntrydncr223]

Prices always go down after the initial honeymoon stage...
The question is, when does the honeymoon stage end?