BlackBerry PlayBook Specs for launch April 19 Canada
The mild uptick came after RIM pegged April 19 as the day that the PlayBook would appear on shelves in more than 20,000 retail outlets across North America.
While Research In Motion is expected to report strong quarterly results on Thursday, the PlayBook is seen as a key to its future success.
It's expected to appeal more to business users, but the PlayBook will have to compete against Apple's iPad and tablets with Google's Android operating system in the consumer market.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said he expects the PlayBook to make a strong debut with RIM shipping 500,000 of the devices in its first quarter this spring.
“Given stiff competition from iPad 2, Android, PlayBook will need to stake and hold its own ground in the rapidly expanding tablet market — and we think PlayBook will have a strong debut,” Mr. Abramsky said in a research note.
Mr. Abramsky estimates the PlayBook will add $3-billion in revenue for the Waterloo, Ont., company in its 2012 fiscal year.
The first generation of the PlayBook will rely on Wi-Fi short-range networks to connect to the Internet, initially without contracts with wireless carriers. It can be tethered to a BlackBerry to access email.
The units will range in price from $499 to $699 and be available at Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada beginning on April 19. However, the Waterloo-Ont.-based company says customers can place orders beginning today in stores or by ordering online.
The BlackBerry PlayBook will be available in three models, featuring 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes of storage capacity.
Search Amazon.com for BlackBerry PlayBook
Height 5.1" / 130mm
Width 7.6" / 194mm
Depth 0.4" / 10mm
Weight 0.9 lbs / 425g
7" LCD display, 1024 x 600 screen resolution
Multi-touch capacitive screen
Professional grade performance
Full computing power in a tablet format
1 GHz dual-core processor
1 GB RAM
Symmetric multi-processing
Web without limits
Games, media, apps and everything the real Internet offers
Full Adobe® Flash® 10.1 enabled
Built-in support for HTML 5
No-compromise rendering of text, graphics and video
3 MP high-definition forward-facing camera
5 MP high-definition rear-facing camera
Codec support for superior media playback, creation and
video calling
1080p HD video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV HDMI video output
Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports
High-speed connections
BlackBerry PlayBook tablets will offer support for network configurations as follows:
BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n + WiMax
BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n + LTE
BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n + HSPA+
All BlackBerry PlayBook tablets support Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR
Search Amazon.com for BlackBerry PlayBook tablets
The mild uptick came after RIM pegged April 19 as the day that the PlayBook would appear on shelves in more than 20,000 retail outlets across North America.
While Research In Motion is expected to report strong quarterly results on Thursday, the PlayBook is seen as a key to its future success.
It's expected to appeal more to business users, but the PlayBook will have to compete against Apple's iPad and tablets with Google's Android operating system in the consumer market.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said he expects the PlayBook to make a strong debut with RIM shipping 500,000 of the devices in its first quarter this spring.
“Given stiff competition from iPad 2, Android, PlayBook will need to stake and hold its own ground in the rapidly expanding tablet market — and we think PlayBook will have a strong debut,” Mr. Abramsky said in a research note.
Mr. Abramsky estimates the PlayBook will add $3-billion in revenue for the Waterloo, Ont., company in its 2012 fiscal year.
The first generation of the PlayBook will rely on Wi-Fi short-range networks to connect to the Internet, initially without contracts with wireless carriers. It can be tethered to a BlackBerry to access email.
The units will range in price from $499 to $699 and be available at Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada beginning on April 19. However, the Waterloo-Ont.-based company says customers can place orders beginning today in stores or by ordering online.
The BlackBerry PlayBook will be available in three models, featuring 16, 32 and 64 gigabytes of storage capacity.
Search Amazon.com for BlackBerry PlayBook
Height 5.1" / 130mm
Width 7.6" / 194mm
Depth 0.4" / 10mm
Weight 0.9 lbs / 425g
7" LCD display, 1024 x 600 screen resolution
Multi-touch capacitive screen
Professional grade performance
Full computing power in a tablet format
1 GHz dual-core processor
1 GB RAM
Symmetric multi-processing
Web without limits
Games, media, apps and everything the real Internet offers
Full Adobe® Flash® 10.1 enabled
Built-in support for HTML 5
No-compromise rendering of text, graphics and video
3 MP high-definition forward-facing camera
5 MP high-definition rear-facing camera
Codec support for superior media playback, creation and
video calling
1080p HD video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV HDMI video output
Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports
High-speed connections
BlackBerry PlayBook tablets will offer support for network configurations as follows:
BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n + WiMax
BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n + LTE
BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n + HSPA+
All BlackBerry PlayBook tablets support Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR
Search Amazon.com for BlackBerry PlayBook tablets
