Death Knell of the Playbook?

I subscribe to PCWorld. It's one of the few computer magazines that are out there. I know PCMag is still around, but its completely digital. Perhaps if they would put out a Playbook version I would go ahead and subscribe, but until that comes, I'll just go to the website and read what's out there. Going back to PCWorld, which also is part of the publishing house that produces MacWorld. I think that's an important little point. I believe every so often, a few of the writers from MacWorld make their way over to PCWorld and write their propaganda. This must be the case otherwise how can you comprehend the article entitled: "Is RIM Throwing in the Towel on the PlayBook?". The basis of the article is the recent move by RIM to admit it's got a huge inventory of Playbooks and they are writing it down, or off. I'm not big on business, nevertheless it doesn't sound good. So the inventory is being written down, probably at a loss and this is effecting the bottom line, which effects the value of the stock and if you believe some commentators, RIM is in huge trouble and will likely 'go out of business or be bought out'. Some are saying RIM may simply kill off the Playbook and forget about this whole tablet market and leave it to Apple and its iPad. This is music to the ears of Apple. Let's consider a thing or two, Apple is now suing Samsung in every court on the planet because its Galaxy looks too much and acts too much like the iPhone. It is black, it's a rectangle and it has a touchscreen. So if I understand this correctly, Apple wants to own the patent to a colour, a shape and a way to interact. Apple does not like competition it seems. Wait a second, this is about the Playbook, not the ways Apple is the new personification of evil. I'll save that for another blog. Another article states that RIM was 'blindsided' by Amazon taking a loss on its Kindle Fire, which by the way, is not available in Canada. So don't even bother attempting to get it. Seems Amazon decided to take a loss right out of the gate and undercut its competition. Of course, Amazon can do it, because the Fire ties a person to Amazon marketplace where all sorts of wonderful things can happen. I do mean that sincerely by the way, I am a big fan of Amazon. It's not that RIM can't catch a break, its that all its problems are magnified and can't do anything right, in the eyes of the media. Consider the blindsided article, which is found here. So when Amazon sells its devise at a loss, its a strategic business move, when RIM does the same, it's losing money and bringing the company closer to insolvency. Makes perfect sense I suppose. Obviously there are a lot of RIM haters out there. If not haters, then a lot of people who feel RIM deserves some sort of comeuppance and views its recent troubles as just that. What is being missed in all this is a few things, one the Playbook is a very nice product. Alright, let me say it, it's a cool product. I was planning to write about its multimedia ability. Just watch a high def video on it. Amazing. As well, the sound from the speakers is great. I would say they are better then my laptop speakers. Just the quality of sound is something else. The camera works good and yes I will admit it needs a few more killer photo-editing apps to really bring it to the fore. In other words, what's not to love. Yes I know, a lack of apps. That is almost the only thing you hear about, and the lack of email and calendar. I will acknowledge that is a bit of a question, you don't put a calendar on the Playbook, a bit silly. Perhaps it is true the Playbook was rushed out the door because RIM needed to get a tablet out there for the consumer. The good news is RIM sent out a press release which speaks favorably of the Playbook. The company is committed to the tablet. As a part of the committment, all owners will be able to upgrade Playbook 2.0 for free when it comes out in February. What is being said of that upgrade is the fact there will be email, a calendar and the ability to load and run Android Apps. This is going to be good. It should quiet the complaints of the critics who complain and point out how many million of apps there are for the iPad, of which 93% are farting and other rude noises. I`m just making that number up. One commentator made the point:

I've had my Playbook for a month now, and thus far it seems to be able to do everything the Ipad2 can do, with the added bonus of having an integrated 1080p digital camera, and supporting flash as well as HTML5 - all within a smaller, sexier package. Sure the Ipad boasts are massive library of apps, but anyone who has ever owned an iPhone (myself included), is well aware that the vast majority of those apps are garbage and have artificially inflated ratings (3rd party companies are hired to write phony reports on Apps to improve their sales)

The press release gives us a promise of improvement to a great product, what`s there not to love when its come down to that.

RIM is committed to the BlackBerry PlayBook and believes the tablet market is still in its infancy. Although a number of factors have led to the need for an inventory provision in the third quarter, we believe the PlayBook, which will be further enhanced with the upcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 software, is a compelling tablet for consumers that also offers unique security and manageability features for the enterprise,

RIM is committed and I know it will only get better.