Research in Motion has taken the wraps off its rival to the iPad, the BlackBerry PlayBook.
It is the first foray by the maker of BlackBerry phones into a new market, but despite the playful name this is a device aimed squarely at RIM’s existing enterprise customers. It has Wi-Fi, but the only way to get mobile internet access will be by tethering to a BlackBerry phone.
That focus on enterprise means that while business users and software developers will see the PlayBook next month, consumers won’t be able to get their hands on it until next year, round about the time Apple is expected to unveil iPad 2.
On the hardware side, the PlayBook has a 7-inch screen, notably smaller than the iPad’s, but it does have rear- and front-facing cameras. And while RIM boasts of the 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, it is silent on battery life.
The device runs on the new BlackBerry OS, which means that it isn’t compatible with BlackBerry phone apps. Instead it offers full support for web standards, including HTML5 technologies, and for Flash.
RIM has not yet said how much the BlackBerry PlayBook will cost.
The only other company to unveil a working iPad rival is Samsung. The Galaxy Tab runs Google’s Android OS and is scheduled for released later this year. Again, no price details are forthcoming.
