Research In Motion Introduces A New Line Of Playbook Tablets

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Research In Motion Introduces A New Line Of Playbook Tablets

The makers of Blackberry are going to do it again.  They are launching a brand new line of Playbook tablets, this time with built-in support for cellular networks, an important feature that their first tablets didn’t have.

Next week, they will roll out the new gadgets in Canada, their home country, before they launch in the USA, Europe, Caribbean, Latin America, and South Africa.

The first Blackberry PlayBook was launched over a year ago, and it garnered criticism for several things, including the lack of important features like email and the fact that it wasn’t as nearly as impressive as the Apple iPad.

The chief executive officer of Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM), Thorstein Heins, recently talked about moving his company forward and offered details on potential options for licensing BB10.

Heins explained, “We don’t have the economy of scale to compete against the guys who crank out 60 million handsets a year. We have to differentiate and have a focused platform. To deliver BB10 we may need to look at licensing it to someone who can do this at a way better cost proposition than I can do it. There’s different options we could do that we’re currently investigating.”

Lets hope that other tech companies, like Samsung or Sony, can come to the aid of a poorly performing company. Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) needs a lot of help if they want to save their company. It’s not as if they don’t have a good product, because they do, it’s more or less because they cannot keep up with the competition. After all, it really wasn’t all that long ago that the Blackberry was considered a status symbol and a popular product.  Then  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) introduced iPhones, and smartphones quickly replaced Blackberries and other PDA-type phones. It wasn’t enough to have a phone that allowed you to check emails or schedule business meetings and appointments, people now wanted a phone, personal data assistant, entertainment device, and computer, all in one device. Apple set the standards, and many people expect all smartphones and tablets to have the same standards as Apple.  When they fail to meet the demands, they lose money. That is Blackberry’s current problem.

So what will it take for Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) to save their company and Blackberry brand? It’s going to take time, a lot of work, and creativity. I really hope that Thorstein Heins is serious about making some significant changes with his company.  I also hope they can start the turn-around fast, before people forget about their brand.

 

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