

The BlackBerry PlayBook Doesn't Exist - BinaryAcid
http://www.singularityhacker.com/

======
thought_alarm
When you're the one who's first to market with a game-changing device, you
announce it as close to ship date as possible.

Everyone else announces their me-too products as early as possible to show
they're in the game. It's been like that for years now. There are few
exceptions.

All RIM announced was a roadmap, but it's an interesting one because it
includes an entirely new OS and tablet platform that will eventually become
the platform for all of their future mobile devices (barring any software
engineering disasters). To me, that's a lot more interesting that all these
manufactures who rush to market with their 7" Android 2.2 phones and call them
"tablets" merely to cash in on the craze.

~~~
InclinedPlane
QNX is not a new platform, it's older than Android and iOS combined. Its use
as a specialized tablet / mobile OS is new though.

~~~
st3fan
Also, I don't think QNX is the platform. For them QNX is the OS layer. But not
the platform that you develop against. This is why the dev options are HTML5
and Flash. I bet the third API will be Java based. Like we are used to from
RIM.

------
mikeknoop
The iPad was released 3 months after it was announced. The Playbook, just
announced, is not scheduled to ship until 2011 sometime. So it's clear that
RIM is not at the same production level Apple was when they announced the
iPad. This is likely why no one was allowed to play with it (it's not done
yet).

~~~
mattparcher
I up-voted you, but I don’t believe the author is making a claim any different
than your own. The title may be hyperbole, but the point is that _RIM
shouldn’t announce a device if it isn’t done_. As many others have noted in
previous threads of this discussion, RIM seems desperate, and they (along with
the customers they are clearly trying to keep from adopting iPads) have a good
deal to lose if the final version doesn’t live up to the hype based on such
limited details.

~~~
joezydeco
I wonder how many corporate IT departments are starting to look at iPad a bit
too close for RIM's comfort. Time to drop a little FUD into the mix.

~~~
angstrom
Corporate IT? Hell, most managers have already gone out and bought themselves
one.

~~~
megablast
Managers are one thing, getting everyone in the company is the next step, and
a lot larger number of orders.

~~~
jufemaiz
Apple's Enterprise Management tools are headed into this space.

RIM + Microsoft should be very concerned about Apple as much as Android based
devices.

------
codedivine
It should be noted that they announced it at DevCon. Apart from keeping
investors happy, the idea was to let the developers know that such a product
is coming and to let them know the tools that they can use to develop for it.
Its only slightly different from the WP7 announcement. I believe RIM is
releasing (or has released) the SDK. The SDK definitely needed to be announced
and provided to developers 5-6 months before product hits shelves so I dont
see why other people have a problem with it.

------
j053003
It doesn't exist to me either without knowing: (1) the Price, and (2) the
projected Battery Life

------
mahmud
This is the actual URL of the article.

[http://www.singularityhacker.com/2010/09/blackberry-
playbook...](http://www.singularityhacker.com/2010/09/blackberry-playbook-
doesnt-exist.html)

------
seltzered
"great artists ship"

I was having a hard time grasping the fact that they have three problems to
manage (OS-wise): evangelizing BB 6.0 (for torch sales), keeping older
versions of BlackBerry OS, and now Declaring that the QNX-based OS is the
future.

~~~
jrockway
People keep using the expression "great artists" to refer to a company that
makes an out-of-date phone that's only popular because Enterprises can turn
the camera off and force users to have a 1 million character password that
they have to type before every operation.

RIM is not a "great artist". RIM merely does exactly what people with a lot of
money tell them to do, and then they charge the people with a lot of money a
lot of money. Then they make a lot of money. It's not art. It's business.

~~~
seltzered
what? I wasn't saying RIM is a "great artist" at all, they're terrible. The
quote is supposedly from steve jobs.

While I'm writing, my opinion is that the big problem with RIM's tablet is
that they didn't think at all about designing hardware that met the
enterprises needs, or as you say "people with a lot of money". If they did,
they would have made a tablet great at capturing employees thoughts and ideas.
My opinion is that this requires two things:

    
    
      1) A tablet that handles multitouch AND pen input very well (i.e. get n-trig / wacom hardware/licensing for the touchscreen)
      2) A tablet that doesn't have a small 7 inch screen. The screen size equivalent to a stenographer's book is 10 inches. It's great for writing down lists of things down.

------
tyng
RIM used to be creative, BlackBerry devices used to be a game-changer - where
did all that innovative thinking go? I like Apple products, but hate to see
every other company just following what Apple is doing and not coming up with
their own WOW concepts. I mean, the future of mobile devices can't be just the
tablets, aren't there any other possibilities?

Sorry BlackBerry fans, I can't help but feel distasteful of the PlayBook.

------
luminary
The author is wrong. Why so serious? It was nothing more than a tease to
excite the platform developers. Proper announcement/demo will happen at an
appropriate time.

\- Attended the keynote + currently working at RIM as an intern

~~~
HectorRamos
So have you touched the PlayBook yet? Is the OS actually at that level as of
this moment? At least that's what you're implying there by saying you're
interning at RIM.

------
icegreentea
Having played with a Torch... yes, that ad is simulated imagery. Yes, the
actual Torch isn't quite as snappy as the ad. But, its almost as snappy as the
ad. As in, if you really weren't paying attention, you wouldn't notice. This
isn't like the N97 debacle.

Granted, Storm sucks. Everyone I know working at RIM admits it. But the Torch
is definitely a solid device, with a solid touch interface.

I can't speak to the rest. I would like to think that companies showing
simulated demos would be truthful in their simulations. In my heart, I really
want RIM to be that type of company (their campus is right next to my school).
And I think that by and large, they are.

That said, there's a long tradition of BlackBerry prototypes being leaked
looong before any type of announcement. The Torch (and the clam shell) in some
form of the other has been floating around for nearly a year before they were
announced.

~~~
joezydeco
I was kind of believing the video until that scene where the guy is taking a
picture and rotates the tablet... _and the picture rotates, antialiased, in
real time_.

------
BinaryAcid
This story just got picked up by Daring Fireball and ZDNet.

[http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/09/30/blackberry-
playb...](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/09/30/blackberry-playbook)

[http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/blackberry-playbook-ill-
believ...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/blackberry-playbook-ill-believe-it-
when-i-see-it/39868)

