“Research In Motion Ltd. shares fell as much as 4% Tuesday as analysts had mixed reactions to the company’s latest device — a tablet designed to compete against Apple Inc.’s popular iPad,” Dan Gallagher reports for MarketWatch.
“The tablet — known as the PlayBook — was introduced by RIM Monday at its annual developers conference in San Francisco,” Gallagher reports. “No price was given for the touch-screen device, which is expected to go on sale in the U.S. sometime in early 2011 and in other markets by the second quarter. ‘With the PlayBook only available for consumers after the holiday season, we view this as a mild disappointment,’ wrote T. Michael Walkley of Canaccord Adams in a note to clients Tuesday. Walkley noted that the lack of a product demonstration made it more difficult to gauge its potential.”
Gallagher reports, “Several brokers have grown negative on RIM lately, on the belief that sales of BlackBerry smart phones will face growing competition from rival products such as the iPhone ‘We maintain our negative rating as we believe RIM’s new product launches [PlayBook, Torch] do not address near-term share losses in the North American consumer smart-phone market,’ wrote Jeff Fidacaro of Susquehanna in a report Tuesday.”
Full article here.
Why do people keep calling the PlayBook announcement a “launch” when the product won’t be available for six months???
Why do people keep calling the PlayBook announcement a “launch” when the product won’t be available for six months???
iPad is the best
iPad is the best
How is it a “book”?
How is it a “book”?
No demonstration?? Vaporware for sure!
No demonstration?? Vaporware for sure!
It’s not the company’s “latest device”. It’s the company’s “latest vapors”.
It’s not the company’s “latest device”. It’s the company’s “latest vapors”.
To be fair, AAPL is down as well.
Still the PlayBook intro was a huge disappointment regardless of how you look at it.
They didn’t actually show the product in use. They didn’t give a lot of specifics. It’s not going to be available for 6 months. It will be competing against Apple’s 2nd version of the iPad.
It gets worse…
Who will buy it?
With the iPad, a lot of people were confused about how it would fit into their lives. What the iPad had going for it was the entire ecosystem.
The iPad also had a huge base of users who…this get’s very close to describing them as fanboys, but really it’s people who appreciate the consistency in Apple’s UI and UE. The iPad was just an extension of what they’ve come to appreciate about Apple’s products.
The PlayBook has none of that. No software other than what they can evangelize (pay for) out of the gate. It’s totally inconsistent with anything RIM has ever produced. The existing base of RIM users consist of a very common interest. They want a phone with a physical keyboard that can be used for email at their corporation. Any RIM user who wants anything beyond that has moved on or will soon.
So the PlayBook is exactly what their user-base does not want. RIM faces this same problem as they try to migrate users to a modern generation of phone…which is why they can’t compete with the iPhone or Androids. When RIM tries to clone the iPhone, they don’t appeal to their core user base and potential customers want the real deal anyway.
Of course it doesn’t help that RIM is promoting the PlayBook as a professional thingie for the enterprise. That’s just not going to work. Security?…not even through obscurity in this case. A new platform is going to have all kinds of problems.
And don’t get me started on the size.
RIM is in a no-win scenario now and will die a *slow* death. It can’t evolve without losing its users, and slowly they’re losing their users anyway.
To be fair, AAPL is down as well.
Still the PlayBook intro was a huge disappointment regardless of how you look at it.
They didn’t actually show the product in use. They didn’t give a lot of specifics. It’s not going to be available for 6 months. It will be competing against Apple’s 2nd version of the iPad.
It gets worse…
Who will buy it?
With the iPad, a lot of people were confused about how it would fit into their lives. What the iPad had going for it was the entire ecosystem.
The iPad also had a huge base of users who…this get’s very close to describing them as fanboys, but really it’s people who appreciate the consistency in Apple’s UI and UE. The iPad was just an extension of what they’ve come to appreciate about Apple’s products.
The PlayBook has none of that. No software other than what they can evangelize (pay for) out of the gate. It’s totally inconsistent with anything RIM has ever produced. The existing base of RIM users consist of a very common interest. They want a phone with a physical keyboard that can be used for email at their corporation. Any RIM user who wants anything beyond that has moved on or will soon.
So the PlayBook is exactly what their user-base does not want. RIM faces this same problem as they try to migrate users to a modern generation of phone…which is why they can’t compete with the iPhone or Androids. When RIM tries to clone the iPhone, they don’t appeal to their core user base and potential customers want the real deal anyway.
Of course it doesn’t help that RIM is promoting the PlayBook as a professional thingie for the enterprise. That’s just not going to work. Security?…not even through obscurity in this case. A new platform is going to have all kinds of problems.
And don’t get me started on the size.
RIM is in a no-win scenario now and will die a *slow* death. It can’t evolve without losing its users, and slowly they’re losing their users anyway.
Exactly. They have nothing. There is no tablet. It’s just wishful thinking. And once they have something, no way it will perform like their videos. People will buy a few but it won’t catch on. And by that time Apple will be on their second gen iPad with a camera and retina display, at a quarter pound lighter.
Exactly. They have nothing. There is no tablet. It’s just wishful thinking. And once they have something, no way it will perform like their videos. People will buy a few but it won’t catch on. And by that time Apple will be on their second gen iPad with a camera and retina display, at a quarter pound lighter.
I don’t see why companies can’t see that when they announce a product, it needs to be ready to go. By the time this crap comes out, no one will even remember this announcement. Just wait til it’s ready and make it available the next week. This has been the case with every windows phone produced.
I don’t see why companies can’t see that when they announce a product, it needs to be ready to go. By the time this crap comes out, no one will even remember this announcement. Just wait til it’s ready and make it available the next week. This has been the case with every windows phone produced.
Maybe they should call it the CrackPad
Maybe they should call it the CrackPad
The reaction in the tech press sure seems positive. They just seem so hungry for iPad killers. I mean is the bar that low? A few specs with a simulated video and RIM is suddenly prepared to take on the iPad?
Gizmodo was quick to slap a comparison chart together showing how the iPad, unveiled nine months ago, compares to this PlayBook that’s six months away from release. It’s incredibly slanted. The press and the tech blogs fall right in line as if they can’t put two and two together and realize that the iPad will be near the end of its current cycle by the time the FailBook sees daylight.
The reaction in the tech press sure seems positive. They just seem so hungry for iPad killers. I mean is the bar that low? A few specs with a simulated video and RIM is suddenly prepared to take on the iPad?
Gizmodo was quick to slap a comparison chart together showing how the iPad, unveiled nine months ago, compares to this PlayBook that’s six months away from release. It’s incredibly slanted. The press and the tech blogs fall right in line as if they can’t put two and two together and realize that the iPad will be near the end of its current cycle by the time the FailBook sees daylight.
First the Storm iPhone killer. strike one. then the Torch iPhone wannabe. strike two. someday the PlayBook iPad wishabe. and then … RIM, you’re out.
First the Storm iPhone killer. strike one. then the Torch iPhone wannabe. strike two. someday the PlayBook iPad wishabe. and then … RIM, you’re out.
And don’t forget the most important point: developers,developers,developers!
It also doesn’t have a quarter of a million apps, now does it?
I just don’t get why they waste their time…
And don’t forget the most important point: developers,developers,developers!
It also doesn’t have a quarter of a million apps, now does it?
I just don’t get why they waste their time…
@R2
Funny how desperate the tech press/Apple haters are for an iPad killer isn’t it? Yeah, a product to kill the very product that essentially invented this product category.
How many years of a head start did everyone else have on tablets?