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RIM charging off $485 million in unsold PlayBook inventory
Research in Motion has announced that they will take a $485 million charge in the fiscal third quarter thanks to their BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The company is taking the hit now with plans to put the whole fiasco behind them and move forward, although they claim they are still committed to the tablet.
The PlayBook launched earlier this year starting at $499 but critical reviews and a lack of some key features led to poor sales. Meanwhile Apple’s iPad continued to dominate the landscape and RIM was forced to slash prices several times to move stagnant inventory. The most recent promotion put the tablet at $199 in hopes of boosting holiday sales.
The company had high expectations for the PlayBook but it just wasn’t meant to be. RIM shipped 500,000 tablets in the first quarter it was available, 250,000 more the following quarter and only 150,000 in the most recent quarter. That is a far cry from the 1 million units the company had estimated to ship in January. The BlackBerry maker blamed low sales on multiple factors, one being the delay of a much-anticipated operating system update that would bring several key features to the device like BBM and email.
RIM as a whole still remains profitable despite stiff competition in the US. The company reported two consecutive quarters of declining smartphone shipments but reported selling 14.1 million BlackBerrys in the third quarter. A full third quarter report is expected later this month.
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RIM BlackBerry PlayBook
The BlackBerry PlayBook features a 7-inch display with 1024 x 600 pixel resolution. The sides of the PlayBook are coated with a soft-touch rubber that has a quality feel and provides some grip. A 3.5mm headphone jack is present as well, on the bottom of the tablet are three ports: micro-HDMI, micro-USB, and a three pin accessory dock connector.
Apple iPad 2 3G
The iPad 2 improves on the original in many ways, including a significantly faster dual-core CPU, improved graphics and a thinner footprint. The iPad 2 also manages to shave off 0.2 pounds for a total weight of 1.33 pounds on the Wi-Fi only model. Apple has included two cameras on the iPad 2 – a VGA-quality front facing lens for FaceTime and a rear-facing camera capable of recording 720p video.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 GT-P7100
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 weighs 595 grams, it supports HSPA+ network speeds of up to 21Mbps, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity. It also features a 3 megapixel rear camera and a 2 megapixel front camera, providing seamless 1080p HD video. The device is powered by a 1GHz dual core application processor and features a 1280 x 800 resolution WXGA display.
Amazon Kindle Fire
Amazon sent a wave crashing through the mobile industry when it announced its Kindle Fire would land with a price of $199. This is likely the best value in a tablet on the market, and will make tablet computing accessible to many people that either couldn't afford an iPad or couldn't tolerate Honeycomb tablets.
User Comments: 5
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The word is stagnant.
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No the world is full of retarded sheep who drool at Apple having no technical knowledge at all.
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That's about right, in a way.
BB makes far more secure phones than Apple does.
However, Apple makes phones that:
1) Don't crash constantly like BB phones
2) Regular people can figure out how to use
3) People actually want to buy
I worked sales / customer service for a phone company for a few years. Now I work IT security.
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Too bad I said "word," not "world."
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Apple devices have issues too with data corruption and also good share of factory serviced devices too across the board. RIM should have stayed in the SmartPhone or PDA which they're famous for. Playbook okay but not Android Emulator won't get out of beta until next year with the OS 2.0 I am told by RIM. Still Android is growing it's share of customers this is where I am today!
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