Has RIM Missed the Tablet Market?

I think by now, everyone understands how quickly the technology market moves. In the time it takes for someone to decide on a mobile device or tablet and then go ahead and purchase the product, the markets will have moved on. I will use a quick example here, I know someone who has recently purchased a HTC Sensation XE. This is an excellent phone and offers some decent specs including its 1.5 GHz dual-core processor however there has been confirmation that HTC will soon be showing off a range of new devices at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. The one that comes to mind for me is the upcoming HTC Zeta which has a beautiful design and some breathtaking specs. It will be running Android 4.0 Ice-cream sandwich and will be one of the first devices to come pre-installed with it. I think more breathtaking than that is the fact that it will be sporting a 2.5 GHz Quad-Core processor offering a real powerful punch, but I think I am getting off topic.

I want to look closely at the Blackberry Playbook which was first launched by Research in Motion last April but immediately had problems. The playbook launched with its own operating system called Blackberry tablet OS based upon the QNX Neutrino kernel. The problem here was that the system was very slugglish and at times I found it to be completely unresponsive or attempting to the complete opposite of what you were trying to achieve. There were concerns about the operating system from day one though, there were many comments made that the operating system crashed completely and criticism soon emerged suggesting that RIM had launched the device too early without testing it.

The other major criticism for the launch of the playbook came after users found that it came with no email client or calendar. This was very surprising for a company that works around productivity and business and the battery life saw in come in at second from bottom compared to other tablet devices around that time. The final nail in the coffin for RIM at launch was the price was over priced for an unfinished tablet that did not appear to be anywhere in the same league as its rivals such as the Motorola Xoom or the iPad 2.

We move a few months down the line to yesterday when the announcement came that Research in Motion would be releasing a software update for the playbook called 2.0. This would certainly fix most of the problems that the playbook started with and added features that should have been available at launch. This includes a native email client and a calendar application. It now also sees an update for documents to go and print to go and allows IT managers bring in Blackberry fusion.

There also comes an update for Blackberry Bridge allowing users of the playbook to make it communicate with blackberry phones and allows them to become remotes for the tablet device. The question that must be asked now though is this too late to allow RIM to continue making decent sales figures from the playbook? I think that Blackberry Tablet OS 2.0 is aimed primarily at users who already own the playbook rather than trying to get new users because lets be honest, the playbook has pretty much lost the attention of consumers now. The market is pretty much commanded these days between Honeycomb and iOS with many companies producing android tablets and Apple continuing their march against rivals.

It is an excellent decision for RIM to finally add these features to allow those who forked out the money for the device to get some use out of it yet I think its a lost cause in getting new users interested. If RIM are looking to gain the attention of consumers once more I think the correct thing to do is start from the bottom up and scrap the playbook completely.

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BlackBerry PlayBook Review

This is my full review of RIM's first tablet and iPad competitor, the BlackBerry PlayBook. Specs for the device include a 7-inch touchscreen (1024x600), 1GHz dual core processor, 1GB RAM, 3MP front-facing camera, 5MP rear-facing camera with 1080p video recording and a full Adobe Flash 10.1 supported browser. Available storage capacities include 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. Starting price for the BlackBerry PlayBook is $499.

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CES 2011 Wrap-Up

I was lucky enough to attend CES 2011 this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. I got the chance to see numerous amounts of gadgets from all perspectives including getting one on one demos with some of the latest gadgets soon to come in the year 2011. Although I felt overwhelmed with the amount of 3D Televisions and tablets, I witnessed . It was overall a great experience; I also was able to meet lots of well-rounded individuals. 

Day 1 started with keynotes from Verizon CEO, Ivan Seidenberg introducing Verizon’s new LTE network which could be the new home of the iPhone later this month. CEA President and CEO, Gary Shapiro also gave a speech addressing the current state of the CE (Consumer Electronics) Industry. Later on Audi AG Chairman of the Board of Management, Rupert Stadler, gave a speech on leadership and Samsung President, Boo-Keun Yoon demonstrated the new portfolio of Samsung.  I also got hands-on with various companies. 

Day 2 was filled with a slew of keynotes during the morning; including various CEOs. I got a lecture on the newly announced Yahoo Connected TV; similar but not better than the Google TV. Yahoo Connected TV has one special feature that Google TV doesn’t it allows you to interact with your television with quizzes about the segment your currently watching; don’t it would be a use of most consumers. I also got hands-on with one of the very few 4G MiFi’s, Clear Spot 4G, only $45 dollars a month for service including unlimited data; a good deal. Also you have two options; first option you can either purchase (for $199) or lease (for $6/month) device and pay the monthly plan for $45/month or the second option you can receive the device for free of charge and pay your monthly fee of $45/ month but your bound by a 2-year contract; neither option offer a pay-as-you go option. 

Day 3 I got the opportunity to test ride in a concept car of General Motors, the en-v, which is an all electric vehicle specifically designed for the Shanghai Expo. There has been no set date/year for production of the en-v for the public. I also got a very well presented demo of the BodyGuardz which is a screen protector designed for the whole body of your device. Another one on one demo I received was with the Blackberry Playbook, something that can really compete with the Apple iPad; contains a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5MP rear-facing camera and 3MP front-facing camera. 

  Day 4 I found a really cool backup service, clickfree, very unique from the other backup solutions that I’ve used, not only does it backup on schedule without hassle. Another feature that most of us run into is that when you do a backup its wipes current information on your hard drive with clickfree it doesn’t alter any of the current files on your hard drive. 

I really enjoyed CES 2011, it has been a great experience for me and the TekSocial website. This CES  was certainly the year of the tablets and 3D televisions. Hopefully I will be fortunate enough to attend next year and provide more coverage for TekSocial.com. For your enjoyment I’ve included all the coverage of my CES Experience below. An lastly I uploaded all the pictures’ I took at CES 2011 to my Flickr. 

The World that Forgot About BlackBerry

In the midst of the new tablet rush, I completely forgot about RIM and when I came home today to see that they had released a tablet, I was stunned. Let me just start off by saying that I am completely blown away by the Blackberry Playbook. When I read the specs, I found out that this thing was a monster. A tablet packing a dual-core processor? Jeez. Two HD cameras, HDMI out, and much more. I think RIM made the right choice by waiting to enter the tablet market, because they just took features everyone wanted in the iPad, and put it in their product. And that new Blackberry Tablet OS, it looks great.

For people like me who don't want the size of the iPad, but also do not want a horrible Android tablet, this product is going to be a huge hit. I personally decided that if it is affordable for me, I will purchase one. I hope RIM releases more hands-on videos with the Playbook soon, and that when the SDK comes out in a couple weeks, developers flood in and create some high-quality applications that will be ready come launch in early 2011. So do you think that this could be an iPad killer? I personally do not think it will "kill" the iPad, but it will add some good competition in the tablet market. Let me know what you think.