play books

Has RIM halted production of the PlayBook?

Research In Motion says it is not getting out of the tablet business, contrary to analysts who say the company may have halted production of the PlayBook and despite near-fire-sale pricing by a major retailer.

PlayBook production has hit a wall, said market research firm DisplaySearch. "We heard from the supply side that RIM's ODM (original design manufacturer) partners don't have plans for production beyond this year," Richard Shim, an analyst at DisplaySearch, told CNET, referring to the PlayBook tablet. "And it is unusual for a manufacturing partner not to have plans for next quarter," he said.

Shim added that he doesn't have any knowledge of RIM exiting the tablet business, however.

A Reuters report earlier today cited Collins Stewart semiconductor analyst John Vihn who said, "We believe RIM has stopped production of its PlayBook and is actively considering exiting the tablet market."

There is another red flag too. Best Buy in the U.S. just cut the price on all PlayBook models by $200. Though not quite fire sale prices, it's close.

RIM is denying that it will exit the tablet business. "Any suggestion that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued is pure fiction. RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market," RIM said in a statement today.

Last month, Hewlett-Packard got out of the consumer tablet business when it shuttered its WebOS device operations. Almost immediately its TouchPad tablet was unloaded by HP and retailers at $99 for the low-end model. … Read more

Get a Chumby 8 digital frame for $129

It started with August's $99 HP TouchPad and culminated with yesterday's $199 Amazon Kindle Fire, but suddenly the tablet deals are everywhere. (Well, not everywhere--cough, Apple store, cough.)

For example, today only, and while supplies last, Woot has the refurbished 32GB Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi 10.1-inch tablet for $349.99, plus $5 for shipping. Price just a couple months ago: $600.

Meanwhile, the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook is now selling for $299.99 at retailers like Best Buy (where it's currently backordered, interestingly). Days earlier, it was $499.99. Of course, unless you need built-in cameras, I can't see choosing that over the Kindle Fire.… Read more

BlackBerry PlayBook on sale at Best Buy for $299

That was fast. Best Buy in the U.S. knocked the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet down to $299, apparently in response to the market-upending price of Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Clicking on each model on U.S. Best Buy's PlayBook page as of Wednesday night will reveal that the 16GB PlayBook fell to $299 from $499, the 32GB dropped to $399 from $599, and the 64GB model to $499 from $699.

While this doesn't quite match the $99 fire sale for Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad, $200 off the regular price of a PlayBook is nothing to sniff at.

Amazon announced … Read more

Amazon Kindle lights Fire under Android, RIM

The $199 Amazon Kindle Fire is expected to put pricing heat on tablet market. And it's not just the iPad that will feel the pressure, according to an analyst and a cost analysis report today.

"It establishes a new price point for the low to mid-range tablet. Apple will likely have to respond," Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, said in a phone interview.

A report today from UMB TechInsights says Amazon will make a profit on hardware sales of its Kindle Fire "but probably only a third to a quarter as much as the Apple iPad and [BlackBerry] Playbook," according to estimates from TechInsights that show the Kindle Fire's bill of materials at $150.

That kind of profit margin loss-leader stance "can be viewed as a major blow to all Android tablet manufacturers who really have no way to compete since the channel mark-up would require [that] companies put their tablets at or below cost to beat the Kindle Fire price--and they still all lack the content that the Amazon storefront has," according to the report, citing Jeffrey Brown, vice president of business intelligence at TechInsights. … Read more

Kindle Fire sets a new (low) price point for tablets

commentary Well, the Kindle Fire just up and ruined it for all the other tablet makers.

Amazon just put the rest of the tablet world on notice by pricing the Kindle Fire at $199, less than half of the $500 mark that the industry has gravitated toward as a standard price. By doing so, Amazon is redefining for consumers just how much they need to pay for a quality tablet.

"It makes it much more difficult for pure tablet vendors--other than Apple--to sell products at a profit," said Avi Greengart, who covers consumer electronic products for Current Analysis. … Read more

Retailers offering discounted PlayBook tablets

Let the BlackBerry PlayBook sale begin.

Best Buy's Canadian Web site and Staples were the first retailers to offer steep discounts on Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet. Staples is selling the low-end 16-gigabyte model for $299.99 after a $100 discount and another $100 mail-in rebate. Best Buy, meanwhile, is selling the same model for $399.99, but throwing in a $100 store gift card.

The discounts were first identified by BGR, which also reported that Wal-Mart is offering the tablet for $250 in an unadvertised sale.

The new prices mark RIM's and the retailers' latest effort … Read more

RIM sitting on 800,000 PlayBooks, report says

Research In Motion has a backlog of roughly 800,000 PlayBooks, The Guardian is reporting.

Citing an analyst from Fubon Securities, the U.K. publication reported today that RIM's supplier, Quanta Computer, had shipped 1.5 million PlayBooks to RIM in the first half. But RIM has only shipped 700,000 Playbooks--including 200,000 from the past quarter--to its retail partners.

The massive stockpile at RIM is another illustration of the struggles the BlackBerry-maker has faced in selling the tablet. It also adds a wrinkle to how the company plans to reduce the inventory. RIM has acknowledged … Read more

BlackBerry PlayBook tablet prices edge down more

BlackBerry PlayBook prices are beginning to see a slow but steady descent at major U.S. electronics retailer Staples, in the wake of a sharp, though temporary, discount earlier this month at Best Buy.

This also comes after RIM reported lackluster earnings on Thursday and said it would start several programs to drive PlayBook sales.

On Thursday, RIM said it has shipped only 200,000 PlayBooks in the fiscal second quarter, less than half of the 490,000 tablets analysts had expected.

Staples began cutting the price on the 16GB PlayBook earlier this month, reducing it to $449.99 from $499.99. Now it has applied the same discount for the 32GB and 64GB models. Those drop to $549 and $649 from $599 and $699, respectively.

Earlier this month, Best Buy offered the 64GB PlayBook at $549.99, $150 off the original price of $699.99. But that discount lasted only a weekend.

The PlayBook is one of the few non-Apple tablets being sold at retailers that doesn't come with Google's Android operating system. Instead, it uses the BlackBerry Tablet Operating System, based on QNX technology. The same technology that will begin to appear on BlackBerry phones next year.

The 7-inch tablet has some fairly robust hardware, including a 1GHz dual-core processor from Texas Instruments, a multitouch capacitive 1024x600 screen, front and rear cameras, Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports, and 1080p HD video. Access to 3G networks is via BlackBerry phones. … Read more

RIM to cut prices on BlackBerry PlayBooks

After a disastrous first few months, Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet will get a price cut.

During the company's second-quarter earnings call today, RIM Co-Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis said the company would start up several programs to drive PlayBook sales, including an incentive program for businesses, as well as rebates and deals for existing BlackBerry customers. Lazaridis didn't spell out how much of a discount the company would be offering.

RIM is looking to drive demand for the tablets after an extremely weak start. The company reported shipping only 200,000 PlayBooks in the fiscal second quarter, … Read more

RIM earnings plummet by more than half

Research In Motion saw its profit in the second quarter fall by more than half as Apple and Google continue to eat its lunch.

The BlackBerry smartphone manufacturer reported quarterly earnings today of $329 million, or 63 cents a share, compared with a year-ago profit of $797 million, or $1.46 a share. Excluding one-time items, the company posted earnings of $419 million, or 80 cents a share. Revenue fell 9 percent to $4.2 billion.

Analysts, on average, forecast earnings of 88 cents a share and revenue of $4.47 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

The weaker results are … Read more