As the dust on the battlefield of phones slowly settles, a new battle for the rule of tablets seems to be emerging. After the “magical” and widely popular iPad more and more companies seem to be in line to launch the next big tablet. And earlier this week RIM showcased its contender, the Blackberry Playbook.
The Playbook is a 7inch tablet running a new OS from Blackberry based on QNX, with built in multitasking. It has a browser with support for Flash 10.1 and HTML5 and front and rear facing HD camera's for video conference. On the connectivity front it supports 802.11b/g/n Wifi and has mini USB and HDMI ports for physical connectivity. And to run all that the Playbook sports a 1GHz dual core processor with 1 GB of RAM.
Like the iPad, the Playbook supports multi touch, but unlike the iPad it comes in a smaller form factor with a seven-inch screen as opposed to the iPads 10 inch. But that being said the Playbook still supports a large resolution making videos and pictures look really crisp and vibrant.
RIM already has a very strong presence in the enterprise market, and it is looking to leverage the same with the Playbook. It comes with full support for Blackberry Enterprise server, with email and calendering support. It also allows existing Blackberry phone users to pair their device with the Playbook to sync and share data and possibly even use the 3G network of their phone to connect to the net on the Playbook, on the move.
But on the downside, Blackberrys have in the past, had a reputation for being a device only meant for the business user. It remains to be seen whether RIM would push the Blackberry Playbook towards general consumers as well or place it more towards the enterprise user. Pricing information and release date have also not yet been released for the Playbook, but expectations are for it to cost between $500 and $1000 and to launch in the middle of next year.
The Blackberry Playbook is the second major contender for the Apple iPad, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Tab. But with both these tablets due out only late this year or next year and Apple due to launch the second version of the iPad soon, it remains to be seen how long these contenders will stay in contention.