[the_sleuth]

Interesting infograph, look at bottom left corner for tablet market forecast. Large enough market for Playbook to flourish.

Forecast: 154 million units in 2013 from 54 million in 2011

Tablet comparison - The Globe and Mail

[otacon#AC]

It hasn't been a good week for RIM. It's only Wednesday but already we've heard rumors that the company may be discontinuing its PlayBook tablet and gotten word that the executive in charge of the PlayBook project has jumped ship and is headed for Samsung.

....maybe not.

[the_sleuth]

More FUD from Android crowd. You should be worried about Apple's lawsuits not RIM

This was just posted, more evidence of PB's future:

BlackBerry 4G PlayBook HSPA+ - Full phone specifications

As for analyst rumor's about stopped production, Foxconn is switching producton to 4G for the fall launch.

Go home now and worry about Jobs' lawsuits.

[Economist101]

The problem with this is that sales have yet to prove the presence of a "tablet" market. The iPad moves a ton of units, but its competitors aren't moving the meter. If there is to be a "tablet" market, competing tablets need to find a way to connect with consumers. So far, only one of them is.

[diegonei]

The problem with this is that sales have yet to prove the presence of a "tablet" market. The iPad moves a ton of units, but its competitors aren't moving the meter. If there is to be a "tablet" market, competing tablets need to find a way to connect with consumers. So far, only one of them is.

That'smy grudge against RIM really. Where was the marketing for the PlayBook the month it was to be released?

Average Joe can't get excited about something he never heard of and won't buy a product that he does not understand (ok ok, gestures ARE easy to figure out... for most people).

I still think they would have done a lot better if 15 days prior release, the media was floaded with PlayBook ads, left, right and center.

[Rootbrian]

That is allot of units to sell, allot to replace if they're broken, stolen or FUBAR'd.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[sosumi11]

Average Joe can't get excited about something he never heard of and won't buy a product that he does not understand (ok ok, gestures ARE easy to figure out... for most people).

People DID buy a product that they never heard of. And people DID know how to use it.

The real question is why were there no third party apps ready when it shipped? The whole world knew about the Playbook for months, yet there was no developers kit. No developers kit meant no support. No support meant no sale.

I still think they would have done a lot better if 15 days prior release, the media was floaded with PlayBook ads, left, right and center.

When it comes to big ticket (or life style) purchases, ads don't sell products!

How many expensive products do YOU buy just because you saw (and liked) the ad? I'm in advertising and I know the answer is NONE!

Ads only give awareness. And that only applies if the consumer is interested. In other words, right now there is only one tablet that matters. Everything else doesn't. Why would it?

How does an ad convince you to buy a product that has a handful of apps, must be connected to another device to get email, has a smaller screen AND is being sold at the same price as the dominating device?

Also, the pie is growing, but the leftovers are shrinking. With one company dominating, the left overs are being cut up into tinier pieces every day. How many companies have the deep pockets to wait for the dust to settle? How many companies have the depth to not just catch up, but see the next evolution? How many companies have a history of building ecosystems?

This is not an easy task.

No matter what the co-CEO's say.

[01itr]

People DID buy a product that they never heard of. And people DID know how to use it.

The real question is why were there no third party apps ready when it shipped? The whole world knew about the Playbook for months, yet there was no developers kit. No developers kit meant no support. No support meant no sale.



When it comes to big ticket (or life style) purchases, ads don't sell products!

How many expensive products do YOU buy just because you saw (and liked) the ad? I'm in advertising and I know the answer is NONE!

Ads only give awareness. And that only applies if the consumer is interested. In other words, right now there is only one tablet that matters. Everything else doesn't. Why would it?

How does an ad convince you to buy a product that has a handful of apps, must be connected to another device to get email, has a smaller screen AND is being sold at the same price as the dominating device?

Awareness is exactly what the PB needed. Even now most consumers don't even know wth it is, they only know iPad because they see the commercials with the grandpa seeing his grandchild for the first time on Facetime or the iPad being used to teach autistic kids etc etc.

I live a couple hours out of Waterloo and even here not many people know what the Playbook is.

Not to say that the product is worth to have been released that soon, it def needed/needs more work, but advertising would have helped a LOT

[sosumi11]

Awareness is exactly what the PB needed. Even now most consumers don't even know wth it is, they only know iPad because they see the commercials with the grandpa seeing his grandchild for the first time on Facetime or the iPad being used to teach autistic kids etc etc.

I live a couple hours out of Waterloo and even here not many people know what the Playbook is.

Not to say that the product is worth to have been released that soon, it def needed/needs more work, but advertising would have helped a LOT

You missed the point. So you think if RIM issued hundreds of ads showing the ways you can use the PlayBook it would have made any difference? Not.

The iPad was announced in Jan 2010 and shipped 3 months later. RIM announced the Playbook the following October and shipped about five months later. Everybody heard of the iPad because it was actually in the market and in stores for over a year before the first PlayBook even shipped. The ads were the icing.

And when the Playbook finally did ship, what could it do? Browse Flash sites and watch videos. You couldn't even check email or a calendar without a connecting it to another device.

Pretty expensive web browser. Consumers are not dumb when it comes to spending hundreds of dollars on life style product.

They are selective.

[01itr]

You missed the point. So you think if RIM issued hundreds of ads showing the ways you can use the PlayBook it would have made any difference? Not.

The iPad was announced in Jan 2010 and shipped 3 months later. RIM announced the Playbook the following October and shipped about five months later. Everybody heard of the iPad because it was actually in the market and in stores for over a year before the first PlayBook even shipped. The ads were the icing.

And when the Playbook finally did ship, what could it do? Browse Flash sites and watch videos. You couldn't even check email or a calendar without a connecting it to another device.

Pretty expensive web browser. Consumers are not dumb when it comes to spending hundreds of dollars on life style product.

They are selective.

You can access mail and calender on the browser, without need for apps. I had a Playbook and with my iPhone4 there was nothing that I was not able to do.

The advertising would have got people to see the difference between iPad and Playbook. i.e. show them loading the same site side by side, Playbook loads full website, iPad loads incomplete website due to lack of flash. You think Bounty is throwing money down the toilet when they show ads comparing their paper towels to the other brand? Hmm

[sosumi11]

You can access mail and calender on the browser, without need for apps.

Not POP accounts.

I had a Playbook and with my iPhone4 there was nothing that I was not able to do.

Of course not. You had an iPhone 4.

The advertising would have got people to see the difference between iPad and Playbook. i.e. show them loading the same site side by side, Playbook loads full website, iPad loads incomplete website due to lack of flash.

Adobe slit their own throat. They never thought that a phone would get a desktop class browser. Flash needs a mouse to activate roll-overs.Even Adobe has developed a workaround called the Wallaby Flash/HTML5 Exporter.

If Flash was so important, then explain why the iPad is selling like hotcakes and the "full web" is not ?

Besides the web is full of iPad/PlayBook side by side videos. Including those produced by RIM themselves.

You think Bounty is throwing money down the toilet when they show ads comparing their paper towels to the other brand? Hmm

Now you are talking about COMMODITY products. Ads sell COMMODITY products. Not big ticket, life style products. Commodity products are products that are EXACTLY the same as everyone else. What do you think distinguishes one paper towel from another?

Nice try though.