RIM, the maker of BlackBerry devices, is jumping into the tablet market levered open by Apple’s iPad — but says that it is aiming its “PlayBook” at businesses, rather than individual consumers.
Renewing its focus on its traditional users, who lie within corporations rather than in homes, the company’s co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis announced the product by saying that the PlayBook — whose 7″ screen is smaller than the iPad’s 9″ screen — is “the world’s first professional tablet” and will contain features requested by the governments and corporations which need to control users’ access to content and devices.
The device, whose development and details had been rumoured for months, will be in the hands of certain enterprise customers from October, though no price has been given. It will be more widely available from next year.
Following Apple’s successful launch of the iPad in April — with three million sold in 80 days, and analysts forecasting that it will have sold more than 10-million in 2010 — a number of companies have pitched into the market. Samsung and Viewsonic announced versions which will run Google’s Android operating system, while last week a video leaked apparently showing a tablet from HP running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
The RIM Playbook will run its own QNX operating system, said Lazaridis — which will make it unable to run apps written for BlackBerry phones. However it will be able to run programs using Adobe’s Flash technology, widely used for video, adverts and other interactive content on the web, and programs written as standard web pages.
RIM has struggled in recent months as it has lost share in the US smartphone market to Apple’s iPhone and phones running Android, which has led some analysts to downgrade its stock.
But RIM may face an uphill battle even to displace Apple from a number of enterprises. A leaked email list earlier this year showed that the iPad had rapidly acquired a large number of users among the top ranks of US’s political and military, and its ability to communicate with Microsoft’s Exchange and IBM’s Lotus Notes systems has given it some acceptance within corporations.
Relationship with corporations
RIM may instead have to focus on its key strengths, such as its use of encryption for transmitting email, which has made it prized within corporations — though it has also brought it into collision with governments in India and the Middle East which want to be able to wiretap that data.
Robert Filkins, of the telecoms consultancy Coleago Consulting, suggested that RIM’s longstanding relationship with corporations could stand it in good stead over Apple: “‘Enterprise’ tablets which use RIM or Windows or even Android operating systems are likely to be more appealing to system administrators and IT directors within larger enterprises who buy in bulk according to the time-honoured rule of ‘tried and tested’. IT directors are likely to have trusted relationships with RIM and Microsoft Windows rather than with Apple.”
“However, the iPhone has made some inroads into the enterprise sector, and in time Apple’s devices may well become more prevalent in the business market. For now though, consumer and enterprise remain distinct market segments and RIM’s PlayBook could well establish itself over the iPad in the corporate environment.” – guardian.co.uk