Sprint offers PlayBook for $499

After showing up in search results and being teased by a Sprint employee in a blog post last week, the 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook finally went on sale on Sprint's Web site today for $499. As the Wi-Fi-only version, Sprint will not be offering any additional services and the tablet won't require a contract.

Sprint announced last January at CES that it would carry the PlayBook by the summer, but until last week the carrier didn't offer any details. But then on Thursday, Gerald Evans, a Sprint public-sector market director for the Midwest region, said on his personal blog that the carrier would offer the the PlayBook on Sunday, June 5. The post has since been removed, but the headline "BlackBerry Playbook with Wi-Fi available Sunday" still appears in the Twitter feed on the right side of the blog.

According to TheBerryFix.com, Evans said the PlayBook will go on sale in "all Sprint direct ship sales channels, including Sprint Stores, Business Sales, www.sprint.com and Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1)." TheBerryFix.com also said that Evans promised that Sprint will offer BlackBerry Bridge and that the carrier will offer a 4G PlayBook later this year.