Blackberry Playbook Makes Its First Appearance at the CES 2011

By lesha on December 29, 2010, 4:59 pm

“One possibility we are hearing is the likelihood of a larger battery which could add to the heft and weight of PlayBook,” Wu, who is based in San Francisco, wrote today in a note to clients. “We are not convinced that tablets outside of the iPad will see high-volume success.”

First Appearance

Ok guys here’s the news for which we’ve all been waiting! I have it on good authority that the hotly anticipate BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will not only make an appearance at CES 2011 next week, but that its official launch will be very soon after that! One of my BlackBerry spies and I were chatting about how great the Consumer Electronics Show is going to be next week. I of course mentioned that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the PlayBook. My spy then informed me that the tablet will definitely be on display and that most likely will be launched the day after the show opens. I’ll save you the time of looking at your calendar and tell you that my sources tell me that the BlackBerry PlayBook will officially be launched on January 7th. Right now this isn’t exactly concrete, so don’t hold me to it just yet. My source tells me that the day will become more permanent as early as January 3rd, so once I hear from them, I’ll be sure to pass along the information to you all!

Poor Battery Life

Wu singled this out as a major hurdle heading into the electonics show. In a note to investors, Wu said the PlayBook tablet gets “relatively poor battery life of a few hours” of use out of a fully charged battery. The company’s first foray into the tablet field will hardly shine if it can only work for about 3 hours while Smasung’s Galaxy Tab gets 6 hours of use on a charge and Apple’s iPad gets around 10.

This developer question is chicken-and-egg with the consumer critical mass question — more consumers begets more developers begets more apps begets more consumers — and is key to tech investing.  I use both the iPhone and an Android HTC Incredible and while the HTC remains my main phone because it’s on Verizon, I much prefer to play Angry Birds and other games and to just use the iPhone when I can.  To see my Revolution Investing rating on a scale from 1 to 10 for Google and Apple, please check out

Redefining Tablets

Initially, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will be Wi-Fi only and have a “fast, powerful dual-core processor and full support for HTML5, JavaScript, WebWorks, Flash, and Adobe AIR,” Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-CEO, said during the call, adding, “The PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do.”

Sadly, it looks like the days of drooling over this companion device in videos are going to continue well into 2011. RIM has given us a little hint as to when we can expect the device. During an earnings call the company spoke about the revenue that will be generated by the PlayBook and how they don’t expect to be able to include it in the company’s revenue until Q1 of the company’s fiscal year, which doesn’t start until March.

RIM Domination

What most investors fail to realize however is the power of the upcoming PlayBook. RIM still dominates the smartphone market in terms of the number of people who own BlackBerries relative to other smartphones. When these consumers are deciding to buy their first tablet however, the PlayBook will make the most economical sense to them. Why? The PlayBook is directly compatible with a BlackBerry. Although it comes with the latest leading edge features, there are two results from this BlackBerry compatibility feature that will save consumers money. The first is that the PlayBook itself will be cheaper as it does not need wireless chips. It uses the BlackBerry’s wireless capability to browse the web. This leads into the second point which is no monthly bill for the PlayBook. While other tablets such as Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad, and HP’s (NYSE: HPQ) Slate will require users to pay an additional phone bill, BlackBerry users will simply continue to pay their regular BlackBerry bill and that’s all. Over the years this could essentially save customers thousands of dollars – a large plus for consumers and businesses looking to adopt this next generation of tablets.

 

Video Conferencing

The BlackBerry Playbook will also make you enjoy optimized video conferencing. It does this is through its 7 inch crystal clear high-definition display and dual high-definition cameras. Having superior cameras and a cutting edge display is still only part of the equation. The device will also let you enjoy rich stereo sound. This will allow you to enjoy the best video conferencing a tablet has to offer.