The inundation of tablets upon these very pages from day to day should give you an idea that manufacturers see this as a golden opportunity to grab a big chunk of a fledgling market. According to Gartner, though, the prospects are a little less rosy — for the next five years, anyway. Analyst estimates indicate that the tablet market will boom over the next five years, from 17,610,000 units last year to 294,093,000 in 2015. No, not 294,092,000. 294,093,000. Apple will be the dominant force, its market share not dropping below 50 percent until the terminal year of this study. Android will take up the lion share of the other half, with the remaining dredges shared by MeeGo, WebOS, and QNX. The latter, which powers RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook, is scheduled to have a 10 percent share. That’ll be the closest thing to a threat that Google and Apple will face — if you believe any of this.
Update: The figures above are in thousands of units.
Any discussion about Adobe and the iPad seems to always devolve into a Flash vs. HTML5 debate. For today at least, Adobe’s hoping to temporarily refocus the conversation on a trio of new tools that extend desktop Photoshop functionality to the iPad via native iOS apps. First up is Adobe Eazel, an iPad drawing app that lets you create a five-fingered painting on the iPad before transferring it back over WiFi to the Photoshop application running on your Mac or PC. Adobe Nav turns the iPad into a Photoshop companion device by extending live controls and menu bars from the Photoshop workspace to the iPad’s display. Finally, there’s Adobe Color Lava which turns the iPad into a hi-tech color mixing palette. Of course, these are just the first in what Adobe hopes to be a full range of Photoshop extensions hitting app stores just as soon as devs get their talents around Adobe’s Photoshop Touch programming tools (consisting of a Photoshop scripting engine and enhanced SDK) for Android, BlackBerry, and iOS devices (available for Mac and Windows platforms today). Expect to see the Eazel, Color Lava, and Nav Photoshop Touch apps arrive next month — alongside the 5.5 update to Adobe’s Creative Suite (and free Photoshop update for CS owners) expected on May 3rd — with prices ranging from $1.99 to $4.99. Until then, why not feast your eyes on a video preview posted after the break?
Fresh to BlackBerry’s Beta Zone portal, RIM has introduced BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing, an app designed to take the (apparent) mystery out of joining a conference call — thus putting the jobs of many executive assistants in jeopardy. Scheduled telephonic meetings are pushed to an employee’s phone, automatically blocking out time in the calendar. When it’s collaboration time, all attendees are reminded with a handy ‘join now’ button that automatically dials into hosted conferences — complete with access codes and all. Should your call be dropped, dialing back in is just another click away. Yeah, we know you should already be the boss, but if yours can’t figure this one out, feel free to start arranging that corner office in the back of your mind.
As if we needed any more signs of where Research in Motion was heading in terms of its 2011 device line, we’ve just caught wind of yet another touchscreen-equipped Berry. The BlackBerry “Orlando” is purported to be a variation of the Curve with touch capabilities, already being described as a mini Bold Touch. This yet again begs the question of why exactly RIM has so many different devices planned, especially when the spec differences are so minor. We wish the company would deviate from this approach it has relied on for years, but it seems to be more focused on its tablet strategy than it is on pushing the envelope with phones. Additionally, it could just mean that BB6 might be sticking around for a while and that RIM wants its users to get acclimated, or perhaps that it might take a little longer than we think for QNX to trickle down from the PlayBook.
We understand that it’s hard to take two steps rather than one, but a solid list of specifications isn’t going to make the BlackBerry Bold Touch (Dakota) look any less last-decade. For whatever reason, RIM’s design department seems to be stuck in an era where last-generation is the new next-generation, while it’s internals team has seemingly managed to escape. For those who couldn’t disagree more regarding the exterior, you’ll likely be elated to know that the impending handset will boast a blisteringly fast 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 8GB of internal storage, 768MB of RAM, a microSD expansion slot, 5 megapixel camera and a 35-key backlit keyboard. You’ll also get a microscopic 2.8-inch LCD with a woeful 640 x 480 resolution, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, A-GPS, dual-band 802.11b/g/n WiFi and a 720p movie mode. So, one down, one to go — time for a reread, is it RIM?
Update: Seems as if the faucet’s still flowing, with a full specs list popping up for the BlackBerry Torch 9860 (Monza) as well!
We understand that it’s hard to take two steps rather than one, but a solid list of specifications isn’t going to make the Torch 2 look any less last-decade. For whatever reason, RIM’s design department seems to be stuck in an era where last-generation is the new next-generation, while it’s internals team has seemingly managed to escape. For those who couldn’t disagree more regarding the exterior, you’ll likely be elated to know that the impending handset will boast a blisteringly fast 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 8GB of internal storage, 768MB of RAM, a microSD expansion slot, 5 megapixel camera and a 35-key backlit keyboard. You’ll also get a microscopic 2.8-inch LCD with a woeful 640 x 480 resolution, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, A-GPS, dual-band 802.11b/g/n WiFi and a 720p movie mode. So, one down, one to go — time for a reread, is it RIM?
We’d already heard that the BlackBerry Torch 2 would basically be a Torch with some significantly bumped specs, and that’s now been all but confirmed by BGR, which managed to spend a bit of time with the device itself. As you can see, it’s nearly identical to the original Torch in terms of appearance, but BGR says the device’s 1.2GHz processor could “light a fire” when paired with BlackBerry OS 6.1, and that its 640 x 480 display “looks absolutely great.” As with the Bold Touch it got its hands on yesterday, BGR says the Torch 2 will be making its official debut at BlackBerry World next month, with a launch on AT&T to follow in July. Hit up the source link below for a few more hands-on shots.
Update: N4BB has just posted a full spec sheet, which reveals a codename “Jennings” while JerukNipis has some more, clearer shots of the slider — including a nice closeup of the textured battery cover.
RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, a 7-inch tablet, is due for release April 19 — a bit behind schedule. Photo: Erik Malinowski/Wired.com
Research In Motion is preparing to release its much-awaited response to the iPad, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, a month behind schedule.
Among other reasons, Adobe Flash is probably contributing to the delay.
The PlayBook was supposed to be out the first quarter of 2011 but is now set to release April 19.
Some publications speculated on Thursday that the PlayBook’s late launch is related to touchscreen supply. The PlayBook also lacks a finished software development kit for making apps, and won’t have native mail, messaging and contacts apps.
Difficulty getting Flash to work properly on the PlayBook is probably another one of RIM’s woes.
Let’s take a look at the evidence. First, other tablet makers have had trouble with Flash. Motorola’s Xoom launched without it, despite the fact that Motorola highlighted Flash support as a key feature. Even though Flash Player 10.2 for Android is now available in the Android Market, the version meant for Android 3.0 Honeycomb (which the Xoom runs) is a prerelease version with significant limitations and lots of instability.
Second, sluggish performance and battery drainage have been problems for Flash before, and they’re the reason Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave for nixing Flash support on Apple’s mobile products.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab, which runs an earlier version of Android, is the only major tablet that currently supports a shipping version of the Adobe plugin.
Finally, Wired.com’s Erik Malinowski tried a PlayBook tablet at CES and reported that Flash performance proved to be a “choppy and (ironically) limiting experience.” RIM officials at the time were tight-lipped about the tablet’s expected battery life, saying only that it would be more than an hour. That was an early version of the tablet, but choppiness in one of its key features doesn’t bode well.
Last year RIM drummed up Flash support for the upcoming PlayBook, saying that it was going to deliver the full internet experience. That would, in theory, give the PlayBook an edge over the iPad.
“We’re not trying to dumb down the internet for a small mobile device,” says Mike Lazaridis, RIM’s CEO, during the PlayBook demonstration. “What we’re trying to do is bring up the performance and capability of the mobile device to the internet.”
In the video above, RIM demonstrates the PlayBook’s media viewer, which is written with Adobe Air, a platform based on Flash. So without a good Flash experience, RIM’s PlayBook would suffer a lot.
It’s been six weeks since Motorola released the Xoom, and April 19 is probably as long as Adobe can wait before Flash can no longer be considered “a few weeks” late.
Adobe and RIM didn’t respond to a request for comment on this story.
Are video tutorials and leaked presentationsstill not enough to convince you of the BlackBerry Bold Touch’s existence? Well, if not, you can thank BGR for getting its real live hands on an honest-to-goodness prototype, which it says looks even better than the renders. The site also reports that the touchscreen is plenty responsive, which could help induce users to move their thumbs from the optical trackpad for navigation. It also reiterates a BlackBerry World launch, so if things stay on track we’ll be getting our own hands on one in just about one month’s time — we know you can’t wait.
A slew of leaked video tutorials for upcoming BlackBerry devices is finally giving us a glimpse into what RIM has in store to keep its diehard fans from ditching the platform. Among some more video of the all-touchscreen BlackBerry Monaco / Touch, we’re finally seeing how the popular Bold form factor will benefit from some touchscreen magic in the aptly named Bold Touch. We’re longtime fans of the traditional form factor, but if anything, the addition looks to be more trouble than it’s worth. Like its sliding cousin, the Torch, touch input seems even more gimmicky given that all the same functions can be performed using the familiar (and beloved) optical trackpad — which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Sure, touchscreens are all the rage these days and pinch-to-zoom is nice, but we can’t help but wonder if RIM is simply killing time until its dual-core QNX-equipped phones hit unsuspecting BBM’ers. Of course, the company has been impressing us with its use of touch on the Playbook, so there’s no telling what it might have in store come BlackBerry World. You can peep the Monaco action after the break, or check out a torrent of others at the source link as well.
[Thanks, Reagan M.]
Update: Uh oh, looks like the original Monaco video got yanked, but fret not, as Crackberry has just posted some more clips — we got one of the new ones after the break as well.
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