News & Analysis
Comment
yalanand
Both blackberry and Nokia provide some of the best hardware features available ...
Albert88
Its HW is prety good. yes, SW need to be updated. support it.
BlackBerry PlayBook sees further price cuts
Sylvie Barak
2/6/2012 3:21 PM EST
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--The Blackberry Playbook has seen yet another price cut, as Research in Motion Inc. (RIM) tries to sell off its remaining stock in the face of fierce competition from its rival and twin, the Amazon Kindle Fire.
The ill-fated PlayBook has seen continuous devaluation since its lowest specced version appeared on the market for $499 back in spring of 2011. That price steadily dropped as RIM shipped less than 500,000 in its first quarter on the market, 200,000 in its second quarter and just 150,000 in the last quarter.
Back in December 2011, RIM admitted it would be taking a $485 million write-down to rid itself of PlayBook inventory at huge discounts.
During the run-up to the holidays, RIM discounted its 16 GB version to $199, but even that did not manage to stave off the stiff competition, even from its almost identical tablet twin, the Amazon Kindle Fire.
Indeed, Amazon’s Android tablet is not just similar to the PlayBook, it uses an almost identical design and is made by Quanta, the same contractor manufacturer that makes the PlayBook. Amazon apparently went the copy-cat route in order to hurry up production and have the Fire released in time for the holiday season, though the firm is reported to have had to make some compromises, like opting for a cheaper, slower processor.
Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta seemed like a good fit for Amazon, as the Seattle e-tailer fended to stave of its own nemesis in the space, the Nook Color.
Upon realizing that its own hardware team at Lab 126 would not be able to put out a tablet in such a short time frame, Amazon turned to Quanta, which already had the hardware template for RIM’s PlayBook on hand.
Amazon’s price tag, too, is identical to RIM’s newly discounted price, but Amazon has a sturdy retail business model to back up selling its hardware at below cost, whereas RIM does not.
A report by IHS iSuppli put the PlayBook’s BOM (bill of materials) at $271. RIM purportedly still has 1.79 million unsold and unshipped PlayBooks in its warehouses.
In January, RIM tried the odd strategy of trying to sell all of its PlayBook models, the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB version, at $299\. When that failed, the firm shuffled prices again.
Currently, on the The Blackberry online store, the 16 GB version has been restored to the $199 price point, while the 32GB version stands at $249 and the 64GB version is $299.
RIM’s long awaited Blackberry Playbook 2.0 software update with support for Android apps is scheduled for release later this month.
Meanwhile, RIM also briefly held an employee fire sale back in November, trying to shift units for $99, a price point many analysts feel would be more apt in the current climate in order to sell off RIM’s Plabook stock, the same way HP rid itself of TouchPads last summer.
The ill-fated PlayBook has seen continuous devaluation since its lowest specced version appeared on the market for $499 back in spring of 2011. That price steadily dropped as RIM shipped less than 500,000 in its first quarter on the market, 200,000 in its second quarter and just 150,000 in the last quarter.
Back in December 2011, RIM admitted it would be taking a $485 million write-down to rid itself of PlayBook inventory at huge discounts.
During the run-up to the holidays, RIM discounted its 16 GB version to $199, but even that did not manage to stave off the stiff competition, even from its almost identical tablet twin, the Amazon Kindle Fire.
Indeed, Amazon’s Android tablet is not just similar to the PlayBook, it uses an almost identical design and is made by Quanta, the same contractor manufacturer that makes the PlayBook. Amazon apparently went the copy-cat route in order to hurry up production and have the Fire released in time for the holiday season, though the firm is reported to have had to make some compromises, like opting for a cheaper, slower processor.Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta seemed like a good fit for Amazon, as the Seattle e-tailer fended to stave of its own nemesis in the space, the Nook Color.
Upon realizing that its own hardware team at Lab 126 would not be able to put out a tablet in such a short time frame, Amazon turned to Quanta, which already had the hardware template for RIM’s PlayBook on hand.
Amazon’s price tag, too, is identical to RIM’s newly discounted price, but Amazon has a sturdy retail business model to back up selling its hardware at below cost, whereas RIM does not.
A report by IHS iSuppli put the PlayBook’s BOM (bill of materials) at $271. RIM purportedly still has 1.79 million unsold and unshipped PlayBooks in its warehouses.
In January, RIM tried the odd strategy of trying to sell all of its PlayBook models, the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB version, at $299\. When that failed, the firm shuffled prices again.
Currently, on the The Blackberry online store, the 16 GB version has been restored to the $199 price point, while the 32GB version stands at $249 and the 64GB version is $299.
RIM’s long awaited Blackberry Playbook 2.0 software update with support for Android apps is scheduled for release later this month.
Meanwhile, RIM also briefly held an employee fire sale back in November, trying to shift units for $99, a price point many analysts feel would be more apt in the current climate in order to sell off RIM’s Plabook stock, the same way HP rid itself of TouchPads last summer.
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
hm
2/6/2012 9:19 PM EST
Yes, at $99 for 16GB for PlayBook was very attractive. Playbook is very high quality product. I eagerly await 2.0 software update.
Sign in to Reply
SylvieBarak
2/7/2012 1:02 AM EST
You and 500,000 other suckers (including myself) who own a Playbook ;) Actually, you know, all kidding aside, it is a nice device, but RIM messed up its original pricing and that sadly let everything down. Also, had the 2.0 update come before Christmas, I bet they would have sold a ton more. Because people wanted either an Android tablet or an iPad. No one wanted a tablet with no apps....
Sign in to Reply
t.alex
2/7/2012 8:31 AM EST
Are there a lot of good apps for the playbook?
Sign in to Reply
SylvieBarak
2/7/2012 1:09 PM EST
No... there really aren't! I really struggled finding apps in the first few months I owned the device. In the end, I ended up just loading movies and music on it for use on the plane. Really, I never found any other reason to carry it with me.
Sign in to Reply
elctrnx_lyf
2/7/2012 6:13 AM EST
I know what did playbook missed out so big to be not get sold at all. They should release it with Android. Only that can save them.
Sign in to Reply
DMcCunney
2/7/2012 4:11 PM EST
I'm not sure why the Fire is seen as a competitor to the Playbook. The specs are nearly identical, but the markets aimed at are quite different.
The Fire is an attempt to do for other media what the Kindle did for ebooks: create a market Amazon could sell digital content to. The teardowns all point at Amazon losing money on the hardware, but they don't care: The want to sell you the media you'll use the Fire to view.
People who just want a cheap Android tablet are far better served to buy the Nook Tablet and root it. It has better specs and provides a better experience.
While people are rooting the Fire, I'm willing to be they're a tiny fraction of the total sales. Most folks will just use the Fire as a media consumption device for content they will buy from Amazon, and the fact that they will buy it from Amazon is the point of Amazon's exercise.
Fire users have a reason to buy a Fire. What reason does anyone have to buy a Playbook? Failure to provide one is probably RIM's biggest error, with pricing running second. I don't care how cheap it is if you can't actually do anything useful with it.
Sign in to Reply
Dale Shpak
2/7/2012 4:53 PM EST
RIM got caught between a rock and a hard place: watching the small tablet market go by vs. releasing a product too early. Choosing option #2 didn't work out well for them.
I currently use my Playbook mostly for its portability. Extending the active touch area beyond the visible screen allows it to display 7" of content with no wasted area due to browser headers, etc. It's also great for in-flight movies. But, as everyone is saying, the Playbook needs killer apps for it to survive.
The hardware is excellent and the underlying QNX OS is great: it is a robust, mature, scalable and very responsive RTOS. I have taught courses using the QNX OS for 12 years. Around 2001, my company used it in an optical OC-3 edge router product prototype that was the size of a small novel: The entire OS and carrier-class routing software was compressed onto an 8 MB flash, which bodes well for RIM's intention to use QNX for smartphones.
Unfortunately, the next set of hurdles for RIM are rather high...
Sign in to Reply
selinz
2/7/2012 7:28 PM EST
We purchased a playbook after thanksgiving when sprint was selling it for under 199. It works pretty well and the blackberry bridge allows it to suck up unlimited 3g data for free if you find yourself away from wifi. The apps few with seemingly none of the "big boys" supporting it.
Hardware wise, it's pretty nice, IMHO.
Sign in to Reply
NitroWare
2/8/2012 4:58 AM EST
Finally an objective(?) writeup on the status quo behind the Playbook that doesn't mention 'zomg, they sold only 250K devices'
The tech media who have been writing about pricecuts over the past few months need to realise that not all regions follow suit. As of December 2011 no price cuts were officially planed or offered by Blackberry AUS. These devices sell for $399 and UP and this region was supposedly healthy for Playbook.
For those who think AUS is upside down, because of the weak USD and strong AUD that means US$432 if we assume A$399.
Sign in to Reply
SCBMPAE
2/8/2012 11:18 AM EST
"even from its almost identical tablet twin, the Amazon Kindle Fire"
Right, another brain-dead and/or Apple fanboy.
How's that 10" iPod Touch doing for you with
the great iOS 5 Safari update? Great browser
isn't it?
The Playbook OS far ahead of either the iPad or
the Fire and much faster. The Playbook cameras
are better, e.g. 1080, with a simple HDMI output.
Loading media is simple compared to the iPad.
As of this month the Playbook can run Android apps.
But for those that can't intelligently evaluate
technology beyond what's the popular device,
stay with the 10" iPod Touch and iTunes.
Sign in to Reply
Albert88
2/10/2012 4:43 PM EST
Its HW is prety good. yes, SW need to be updated. support it.
Sign in to Reply
yalanand
2/12/2012 8:36 AM EST
Both blackberry and Nokia provide some of the best hardware features available in the market but problem with both the companies is that they are unable to provide the best OS for their handsets. I still feel if these companies adopt Android OS, they can easily re-capture their lost glory.
Sign in to Reply