Blackberry has announced its answer to Apple’s iPad with a device called the Playbook.
The company unveiled its tablet computer to much anticipation at its developer conference, Devcon, in San Francisco.
It is one of the first business-centric devices in the tablet market.
Analysts said that the release was a clever move by the Blackberry maker Research In Motion whose smartphones dominate the business sector.
“This is one of the most exciting times in our history,” said Mike Lazaridis, RIM chief executive officer.
“RIM set out to engineer the best professional-grade tablet in the industry with cutting-edge hardware features and one of the world’s most robust and flexible operating systems,” added Mr Lazaridis.
The tablet will be able to run Adobe’s Flash, which Apple’s iPad doesn’t, and offer micro-HDMI and micro-usb ports. It weighs just 400g and includes dual HD cameras for video calling. Pricing and release dates, for the UK and the rest of the world, have not yet been announced, but it will be available in the USA in the first quarter of 2011 and “international markets” in the second quarter.
Although 3G and 4G models are planned for the future, the device will initially connect to the web via wifi or via a user’s BlackBerry smartphone, and offer a reflection of its screen for expanded use.
BlackBerry PlayBook
Lazardis said it will offer “true multi-tasking” and “an amplified view of what’s already on your BlackBerry”. It’s expected that 16gb and 32gb models will be offered.
The new operating system will also offer open standards, which RIM says will be “a breakthrough development platform for IT departments and developers”. The developers’ kit will be available in the next few weeks.
The move represents the confirmation of rumours of a “BlackPad” that have run through the industry since Apple launched its iPad. It comes after Samsung announced a similar tablet, the Tab, although RIM has stuck with its own in-house operating system, whereas Samsung and a host of other manufacturers have adopted Google’s Android.
# PlayBook is smaller and lighter than iPad… and plays Flash
# Comes with USB connection and has front and rear cameras
# Experts expect it to cost about the same as Apple’s iPad
Tim Renowden, an analyst for Ovum, said: ‘The BlackBerry PlayBook certainly looks like a strong contender against Apple’s iPad, at least amongst RIM’s core enterprise customers.
‘RIM’s dominance of the enterprise smartphone market has begun to come under pressure from Apple and a range of Android competitors, and since the iPad’s launch there has been a lot of discussion about the role of tablet devices in enterprise and the adoption of consumer devices by business users.
‘The danger for RIM is that Apple already has a big head start in the tablet market, and the buzz around its apps and ‘cool factor’ is significant.
BlackBerry PlayBook
‘Many business users will want to bring their own iPads into the work environment, so this is going to be a long and hard fought battle for RIM, but an important one as mobile devices become an increasingly important part of doing business.’
BlackBerry PlayBook :
Display: 7-inch 1024 x 600 LCD
Weight: 0.9lbs
Operating System: BlackBerry tablet OS
Browser: BlackBerry
Flash support: Yes
Ebooks: Yes
Apps: BlackBerry App World
Multitasking: Yes
Camera: 3 MP front, 5 MP back
Input/Output: microHDMI, microUSB
Processor: 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9
Storage: TBC
RAM: 1GB
Wireless: Wi-Fi (3G later), Bluetooth
Battery life: TBC
Price: TBC
At a nearby conference called TechCrunch Disrupt, Todd Bradley, the company’s executive vice president for the personal systems group said tablets are going to be a huge market.
Mr Bradley told attendees that he estimates that in the next few years tablets will be a $40bn market.
Samsung recently introduced its Galaxy tablet as did Dell with the 5 inch Streak. Other companies waiting in the wings with their versions include Lenovo, Asus, HTC, and Acer as well as Google and Microsoft.
A possible contender for the business customer is likely to come in the form of Cisco’s Cius tablet.
Although the full application development story is still being ironed out for Research in Motion’s newly announced PlayBook tablet, developers are anxious to get their hands on one and start building anyway.
They also will continue to build for BlackBerry while waiting for more details about developing for the PlayBook, developers tell InfoWorld. “I’d love to have it,” says Mehdi Rachdi, a developer at mobile marketing firm Adenyo.
[ InfoWorld's Martin Heller shows how the BlackBerry IDEs are a mixed bag. | RIM's PlayBook is no Apple iPad killer, InfoWorld's Galen Gruman asserts. ]
Multiple development environments available
So far, RIM has made it clear developers can use the company’s WebWorks platform for development, which leverages their Web development skills. Web developers can also use Adobe Flash Player 10.1 to run their applications and Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) — both of which are banned on the competing Apple iPad and iPhone.
Developers also can build native applications for PlayBook using C and C++ — a path that game developers are likely to take, says Mike Kirkup, RIM’s director of developer relations.
PlayBook’s support of AIR bolsters its application arsenal, says Al Hilwa, an IDC analyst. “That promises to be one of the fastest ways to get a big portfolio of apps to the PlayBook in the short term,” with 5,000 to 10,000 AIR applications available, he says, because “in theory, these are really easy to port once Adobe AIR is available on the PlayBook.”
RIM is mum on support plan for Java ME apps
But questions remain about how developers can bring over Java-based BlackBerry 6 applications and RIM’s precise Java plans. “We’re still working out how we’re going to enable the community to do that,” says RIM’s Kirkup. But some sort of path-to-app portability or easy migration is the goal, he says: “We want to help developers leverage the investments [in existing applications].”
RIM’s approach to splitting the tablet platform from the BlackBerry platform is opposite the “one OS, multiple devices” approach used by Apple for the iPad and iPhone (both use the iOS) and the approach used by Google for Android devices.
The proprietary BlackBerry 6 application stack leverages Java Micro Edition (Java ME) as a base language. But Kirkup would not reveal RIM’s Java ME application plans for the PlayBook.
PlayBook will use the Posix-compliant BlackBerry Tablet OS, built on the QNX Neutrino microkernel architecture that RIM acquired earlier this year.
Developers eager despite the uncertainties
Despite the uncertainties about the PlayBook’s application development environment, developers can’t wait to get started.
“It’s a very interesting gadget because we are [building] enterprise applications. We have several applications that need a bigger screen,” says John Bibal, a senior software engineer at Novare.
The company will continue building for BlackBerry while waiting for PlayBook development tools, Bibal says. At this point, Novare is leaning toward using WebWorks for PlayBook but is also looking to port existing Java applications from BlackBerry to PlayBook. “We just have to wait for the SDK,” he notes.
Jason Silva, a developer at mobile business application firm JBB Mobile, is also interested in the PlayBook but plans to keep building for BlackBerry, even if the PlayBook is a separate platform. “I look at them as two separate devices,” he says.
Silva is attracted to the PlayBook’s larger screen as well as to its graphic capabilities, both of which should prove useful in field service applications, he notes. Silva also likes PlayBook’s use of the QNX technology. “The QNX operating system is obviously something that a lot of developers are excited about because it’s a real-time OS, which means it’s going to be really, really quick,” he says.
RIM, the maker of BlackBerry devices, is jumping into the tablet market levered open by Apple’s iPad – but says that it is aiming its “PlayBook” at businesses, rather than individual consumers.
Renewing its focus on its traditional users, who lie within corporations rather than in homes, the company’s co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis announced the product by saying that the PlayBook – whose 7″ screen is smaller than the iPad’s 9″ screen – is “the world’s first professional tablet” and will contain features requested by the governments and corporations which need to control users’ access to content and devices.
The device, whose development and details had been rumoured for months, will be in the hands of certain enterprise customers from October, though no price has been given. It will be more widely available from next year.
Following Apple’s successful launch of the iPad in April – with 3m sold in 80 days, and analysts forecasting that it will have sold more than 10m in 2010 – a number of companies have pitched into the market. Samsung and Viewsonic announced versions which will run Google’s Android operating system, while last week a video leaked apparently showing a tablet from HP running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
The RIM Playbook will run its own QNX operating system, said Lazaridis – which will make it unable to run apps written for BlackBerry phones. However it will be able to run programs using Adobe’s Flash technology, widely used for video, adverts and other interactive content on the web, and programs written as standard web pages.
RIM has struggled in recent months as it has lost share in the US smartphone market to Apple’s iPhone and phones running Android, which has led some analysts to downgrade its stock.
But RIM may face an uphill battle even to displace Apple from a number of enterprises. A leaked email list earlier this year showed that the iPad had rapidly acquired a large number of users among the top ranks of US’s political and military, and its ability to communicate with Microsoft’s Exchange and IBM’s Lotus Notes systems has given it some acceptance within corporations.
RIM may instead have to focus on its key strengths, such as its use of encryption for transmitting email, which has made it prized within corporations – though it has also brought it into collision with governments in India and the Middle East which want to be able to wiretap that data.
Robert Filkins, of the telecoms consultancy Coleago Consulting, suggested that RIM’s longstanding relationship with corporations could stand it in good stead over Apple: “‘Enterprise’ tablets which use RIM or Windows or even Android operating systems are likely to be more appealing to system administrators and IT directors within larger enterprises who buy in bulk according to the time-honoured rule of ‘tried and tested’. IT directors are likely to have trusted relationships with RIM and Microsoft Windows rather than with Apple.”
“However, the iPhone has made some inroads into the enterprise sector, and in time Apple’s devices may well become more prevalent in the business market. For now though, consumer and enterprise remain distinct market segments and RIM’s PlayBook could well establish itself over the iPad in the corporate environment.”
Blackberry has announced the launch of its tablet computer Playbook, as an answer to Apple’s iPad.
The first business-centric device in the tablet market created by Blackberry maker Research In Motion, the smart phone is seen as the phone of choice among this sector.
Since its April launch, the iPad has dominated the space with research firm iSuppli predicting sales of 12 million by the end of the year.
“RIM”s Blackberry Playbook tablet looks to be a real challenger to Apple”s iPad, playing on its business credentials, rather than being just another joy machine”,” the BBC quoted Stuart Miles, editor of mobile technology website Pocket-Lint, as saying.
“Whether RIM can deliver what it promises in the business environment with a selection of new apps on yet another operating system will be the real test though. Either way, it”s clear that the battle of the tablets is now full steam ahead,” he added.
The Playbook will have a 7-inch screen with front and rear facing cameras to enable video conferencing, Bluetooth and WiFi.
The operating system will be QNX software and not the Blackberry OS 6, to ensure compatibility of the tablet platform with the OS. It will have no 3G capabilities but will enable 3G data connecting by tethering to a Blackberry smartphone.
Although the price has not been announced, it will become commercially available early in 2011.
“What remains to be seen is whether RIM can keep the price realistic for everyday users – despite all the high quality features, a high price tag will put a lot of people off and convince them that a tablet is a superfluous gadget that they don”t really need,” said Kate Solomon of mobile news and views site Recombu.com.