Playbook - Could it be Blackberry's Swan Song?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, Blackberry launched its playbook amidst great fanfare and cheers from the Blackberry boys club. It was supposed to be ‘the’ enterprise tablet.
However, reality dawned much sooner than expected and the ‘iPad killer’ lacked the weaponry to tame the reigning gladiators in the tablet arena then (and still) ruled by Apple’s iPad.

For starters, it lacked an Apps ecosystem to play around with. There were no flying birds or Toms to talk to. It came without basic apps like email and a messenger. Lack of the latter was especially appalling to the blackberry followers because what’s a life without the iconic BBM?

Priced at $499, it fell flat on its face.

Playbook was a premature baby which stayed in an incubator for far too long until the release of its much awaited OS 2.0. That, coupled with the fire sale started around New Year brought in much needed attention and users.

I purchased it around the same time and I was wowed by the deal I got. iCheered with a full heart :-)

It’s one of the most solidly built tablets around. They have a clear winner in QNX platform (now rechristened BB10) which is one of the most cutting edge and hard core OS known to mankind.
Sadly, history is littered with examples where a great promise never saw its full potential due to poor positioning and strategy. Remember WebOS?

Taking a quick look at how it fares followed by a comparison on the specs to see how well it stacks amongst its peers.

Thumbs Up!

Touch – Super smooth and responsive.

UI – Addictive and grows on you pretty fast. I like it more than the TouchWiz 3.0 UI on my Samsung Galaxy S.

Multitasking - Fantastic. No lag anywhere with 5 simultaneous app running. I have rarely come across crashes.

Display – Nice. Not the best one around, but great considering the current price tag.

Gaming - Awesome. Check out the pre-loaded NFS game. I couldn’t put it down until I had completed every circuit.

Built - At 7 inches, it’s far easier to carry around as well. Offers an excellent ergonomic grip. Feels great to hold as well. Oozes quality.

Needs to Catch Up

Apps - Not enough apps to ‘play’ around with on Blackberry App store.  Prepare to brace disappointment if you are looking to kill time trying out random apps.
Still, most of the necessary apps are there. Recently released BB OS 2.0 update introduced support for android apps.
However, there is no way of knowing which one is native or android before you install it though.
Another flip side to it is that most of the apps are paid ones. Though cheaply available, I still won’t spend a dollar just for trying out.
However, this has (or should) make it more popular among developers since the earning potential on BB playbook is higher than compared to Android where it’s difficult to earn ad revenue even if freely available among millions of similar apps.

No 3G - I wouldn't have used it anyway. Still, offers more options in terms of connectivity.

Weight - A few grams off its weight would've helped as well!

Report Card - How it Fares ...

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 vs. Amazon Kindle Fire vs. Apple iPad 2 vs. Blackberry Playbook

Even though it’s fast losing ground, Blackberry still retains a lion’s share of enterprise mobile market. They have nothing to lose if they promote their prodigy fearlessly. People, who have used both, place it even above the ruling demigod from the Apple stable.
As consumers, we definitely want this one out there competing with Apple, Android and Windows tablets.


It will be unfortunate if Blackberry isn't able to hold it's own. Wherever it ends up, it will be impossible to ignore QNX.