RIM Playbook Review: some talent to consider

Monday, April 25th, 2011 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

Finally, after all the glassed-off product demos, marketing prose and hyperbole, we’ve had the Blackberry Playbook in our hands for two days, testing like mad and I’d like to share my impressions of this diminutive little powerhouse of a device that has entered a crowded playing field. This is part 1 of 2.

When RIM announced the Playbook, I was both skeptical and excited as Blackberry devices have always been great messaging phones with built-in controls expressly created for their enterprise customers. But they seemed to lack consumer appeal and have taken a backseat to the Droids and iPhones of the smartphone world.

Moreover, I was skeptical of RIM’s ability to successfully execute given their diminishing market share and the subpar reception of their recent smartphones, such as the Storm, in the world of iPhones and Droids.

However, I was also excited due to their acquisition of so many notable companies who bring so much talent and technology to the table, namely: QNX who are famous for their OS on a floppy disk, The Astonishing Tribe who are renowned UX/UI wizards, and Torch Mobile who have developed a WebKit based browser for smart phones that scores 100 out of 100 on the Acid test. These acquisitions proved that RIM was serious about competing in the Tablet market.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s review.

[Editor's Note: In our upcoming Mobile Workforce Report, we found that 6.9% of Mobile Workers plan to get a Playbook in the next 6 months. ]

Tags: Blackberry, tablet