Exclusive BlackBerry tablet information
Been wondering about that BlackBerry tablet device you have been hearing about lately? We have some exclusive information to share with you. We have confirmed with multiple sources that the 8.9″ BlackBerry tablet will be strictly a “companion” device. If you are wondering what it is all about, take a good hard look at the Palm Foleo. Yes, the BlackBerry tablet will not have any cellular networking built in, and will rely on either a Bluetooth connection to your BlackBerry or the built-in Wi-Fi radio. Additionally, we are hearing that the launch of the tablet is slated for December, but the team working on the project is trying to get it out to the marketplace sooner than that. Lastly, the focus of the device is said to be multimedia — think e-books, emailing, web browsing, photo viewing. To be honest, as a complementary device that is coming from RIM, we are not sure why they are even trying here. Especially since RIM employees have privately voiced their frustration to us regarding this initiative.
UPDATE: I skipped over one piece of information from one of my RIM sources, and the reason could have been that my mind just couldn’t process what I was reading. Anyway, it appears that up until at least pre-iPad announcement, RIM had a monochrome version of a tablet device in their wings. Yes, you heard correct — it looks like RIM was, at least one time, trying to build a Kindle competitor.
Image for illustrative purposes only.
Berry nice…ok, i’ll start off by -1 myself…
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LOL
How about a plus 1 for knowing how lame it was?
Bam. Plus oned.
If its less than 400
than i want.
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So, my blackberry phone takes 7 minutes to boot up. How long a Blackberry tablet will take?
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I must be doing something wrong – I can’t remember the last time I needed to reset / reboot my Blackberry.
I turn it off, and on turning it back on it’s with me in a few seconds and connected to both WiFi and Phone network.
As for the tablet – price point. If it’s cheap, colour and cheerful I might shell out for one.
@JoePritchard
He/She isn’t talking about holdinlg the power button ’til it turns off, but a battery pull (taking out the battery).
I’ll have to see it in action before I buy. I could be just what I’m looking for if it is flash compatible.
Hmmm another “iPad Killer” like the recently cancelled Microsoft Courier and HP Slate, these guys have got to be the worst assassins since that bozo al-Qaeda terrorist that tried to assassinate a Saudi prince by detonating an IED he had shoved up his backside.
Anyone who announces that they have have an “iPad Killer” before actually shipping anything is obviously an ass clown and everyone knows it except maybe their shareholders.
RIM is a great company so please do not wade into this market without at least 100,000 apps ready to go.
Umm…Put 2 usb ports on it and dont charge 80 for a keyboard bam instant ipad killer…….
…’RIM was a great company’…at one point in time.
Foleo minus the keyboard. Any word when they’ll liquidate them on eBay? Nov./Dec. ‘10 possibly? ;p
I find it really interesting that when the iPad was introduced the prevailing self-important-spouted meme was “it can’t do this, it can’t do that, etc.” and yet the ‘competition’ seems unable to even deliver something comparable, let alone better. and as for flash: anyone who wants it deserves it.
There will be a lot of competition to the iPad and it will come fast and furious. It will come from Dell and SONY and Samsung – companies that have been building PCs and PC like devices for a long time. Nintendo also threw in their lot announcing to their executive that Apple and not SONY is now their #1 enemy. It will also come from the Chinese because they can use Android (for free) as their OS for any iPad like device.
And in a nutshell you just explained why Apple is so important.
Dell, Sony, and Samsung, with all of the advantages that could be mustered by scale and experience, sat on their behinds and didn’t produce anything exciting in the tablet market. Along comes Apple and the iPad, and now everyone is waking up and realizing there might be an advantage to pursuing a tablet.
In 2007, Apple took the initiative and, from a zero market share, produced the touchscreen phone that changed everything. Blackberry could have done it. Motorola could have done it. Nokia could have done it. But they didn’t. With all of their market advantage and experience they sat on their behinds, cashed their fat checks, and did nothing.
Apple lights fires under the butts of a lot of big and lazy companies and everyone benefits. It doesn’t matter whether you are PC or Mac. It doesn’t matter if you have an iPhone or are a Blackberry user. Everyone benefits from Apple’s aggressive innovation.
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OK but what about LG that did do it and produced a touchsreen phone that launched in Europe before the iPhone came out. Apple was not the first touchscreen phone just because it was the first released in the US.
Apple is just an idea man that contains products that are manufactured by other companies like sony, samsung, toshiba, and the list goes on. These companies might seem lazy but as long as Apple keeps taking the risks and requesting their products they make money.
Great important information ! thanks for sharing .
This might not actually be such a bad idea. BB is doing something different compared to the rest of the market. Having the screen acting as an ‘extender’ to the current mobile screen sounds interesting. If the price is right, this might even kick off.
Tablets been out for years, only heavily marketed from Apple in the recent few months. Yes ok, maybe they should add at least wi-fi seperate from the phone.
For now, they need to improve and focus on application market and drastic improvements on their current API for developers.
The wireless display stuff shown off during CES2010 is totally in line with this idea. What the wireless display stuff is missing I believe is the control channel going back you would need to relay your button mashing & swiping back to the phone based App server.
Am I the only one that sees how bad this will fail? The BB storm was such a huge success, right? They need to stick with what they are good at or spend significantly more time developing this.
Maybe the entire tablet screen will click like the Storm.
It’s a shame BB has really lost their direction with hardware.
ROFL..
http://www.gadgetx.com/blog/2010/5/12/bluetoothwifi-display-client.html
Funny, i just happened to put up images of a companion device concept(keyboard + display) I put together in the early 00’s on wednesday. It would have included a Gameboy Advance emulator too. And get this, in my blog post, I suggested getting rid of the keyboard for a modern version.
I am very interested in seeing this device. I see it as a possible oportunity to get my users further away from Laptops. The only reason we have Laptops is for work in the field. We have total access through BB because it is so secure, but users complain about the small keys and screen. I’ve tested RedFly, wich is a good start, but not quite there. This may be a good solution.
Can’t wait
As Boy Genius said in a tweet earlier this year, if RIM is making a tablet ‘I’m leaving the brand. That shit is straight up disrespectful’
I’ve been hoping that Blackerry would produce a pad device that was an extension of my Storm. The Storm does evdrything I want, I would just like a larger screen to worlk off.
I’ve looked at the iPad, but of course, it doesnt run MS Office suite programs withourt an intermdiate Apple program. I used my Storm for emails and wed browsing along with creting word docs. It does 90+% of what my laptop does, the iPad doesn’t.
If BB can produce an blurtooth connected pad that allows the user to use all of the Storms functions and serves as a great reader for under $300. They will sell them all day long.
Thanks for this helpful information.