At least they were smart enough not to call it "Blackpad"

> RIM said it plans to make the BlackBerry PlayBook available to retail outlets and other channels in the U.S. in early 2011. Other international roll-outs are scheduled to take place by the second quarter of next year. Pricing was not announced. Am I the only one who finds it curious that none of these upcoming iPad competitors are being open about pricing? What are they hiding? Could it be that Apple’s $499 entry point into the tablet market really shocked everyone THAT much, and it’s even now still impossible to even match, let alone beat, them?

A couple of thoughts on this PlayBook from Blackberry:

1. I’m glad Blackberry is trying to get into this game. The best thing for Apple is if they get to compete with more than just Android. If HP finally makes something useful out of the WebOS purchase, and Microsoft eventually drops full Windows on a tablet and adapts Windows Mobile 7 for tablet use, there may be enough platforms out there for Blackberry to carve a niche. And we’ll all benefit, too.

2. The device itself looks nice, though from the video promo linked in this article, you’d almost never know it. They spend the bulk of the ad showing the interface for the device projected against different objects. Kind of strange to me. Perhaps since the device looks very much like an iPad from the front, they were afraid people might think it IS an iPad?

3. HTML/CSS and Flash apps only? Dumb, dumb, dumb. Flash will still very much be a dog come next year. Don’t expect performance anywhere near what you see in this video. And web apps are, well, web apps. Didn’t work for Palm. Don’t see it working for Google with the Chrome OS, though they have the best shot at it. Won’t be very good for RIM. Basically, RIM is admitting that the only viable platform for native app development is iOS, so they are hoping web app developers will be their saviors, as they can “code once, ship everywhere”, including Android and WebOS devices (since they are all running Webkit browsers). But there’s no money in web apps outside of advertising, so don’t expect the best developers to come running. Worse, that’s no way to differentiate yourself in this market. Especially since iPad owners can also use web apps in addition to their own native apps. If your device has nothing special to offer, why would I buy it?

4. Not shipping until “early 2011.” So what you’re saying is, you won’t really have a competitor to the iPad, which began shipping last April, until next April, when Apple has already unveiled its iPad 2nd gen, and you’re just hoping that by announcing before Christmas you might just dissuade a few people who were going to buy iPads this Holiday Season to wait for your device, even though you’re short on little details, like, say, pricing. (And people wonder why Apple gets better press than everyone else.) This will not work. Should have held this one under wraps until it was ready. Or got it ready faster. What’s the holdup? Could it be that snazzy interface you’re showing off is nothing more than a demo video at the moment? That would be my guess.

5. Considering how well Apple is doing in the Enterprise with the iPad, it makes perfect sense for RIM to try and get into this field and hold on to its base of supporters in business. Unfortunately, with this consumer-focused ad campaign, I fear that RIM is instead going to continue to ignore its strengths and try to go for consumers with the PlayBook, which is so dumb I can’t even put it into words. Even the name, Playbook, while a thousand times better than BlackPad, is way too wannabe hipster for what should be this device’s main target audience: suits.

6. Tethering with a Blackberry (hopefully for free, but that’s unlikely) sounds like a smart move, but it severely limits the audience for this device. Imagine if Apple made the iPad compatible with Macs only, instead of being Mac and Windows compatible. That’s how stupid tethering only with Blackberries is. Especially since there’s no alternative networking on this thing other than WiFi.

7. The videos in this commercial of the interface scream vaporware. They play like display videos, rather than real-life use cases. Think Microsoft’s Courier. Clever animations are only going to lead to disappointment when the interface turns out to be less than stellar.

8. USB ports and 1080p output are great for a PowerPoint presentation, but what real-world use will they have? Consumers don’t care and the geeks who will care are a limited audience.

9. I’m still not sold on the 7-inch display idea. Everyone seems to be going in this direction, but I don’t think Apple was wrong to make the iPad substantially larger than that. 7-inches is too big to fit into a pocket (unless you’re a real nerd), so why not go to a larger 10-inch display? My guess is that this is little more than a cost-cutting measure, though I can’t imagine it cuts costs all that much. Maybe Apple is hogging up the entire world’s supply of 10-inch screens? That could easily be the case. But even if it is, a 7-inch screen makes for a device that is even LESS of a viable laptop replacement than the iPad.

10. The dual-core processor is interesting. But I wonder if that’s why there’s no mention of battery life for this device. My guess is that the real reason why there’s no mention of battery life is because there’s no real OS to test battery life on yet. Have I said vaporware yet?

Having said all of this, I’ll say that if this device ever ships, and if it comes in at a price that isn’t too crazy expensive, it might just have a chance at winning over some Blackberry loyalists who hate Apple just on principle. Might steal some of Android’s thunder, which is a good thing. But I wouldn’t be scared if I were Steve Jobs.