Hasta La Gadget!

The upcoming Blackberry Playbook still has some unanswered questions regarding its features, but one of those questions may have been answered as it will reportedly include its own proprietary video chatting software.

Research in Motion’s answer to the iPad phenomenon is gathering a lot of attention not only because it’s yet another high-profile tablet, but also because it has a heavy weight on its shoulder to bring RIM back from a deepening grave.

The Playbook will be coming to Sprint’s 4G network and it’s expected to be available on other carriers as well. There is no firm release date yet.

Via PC World

7digital and RIM are back in bed with news that the BlackBerry PlayBook will ship pre-installed with access to 13 million high-quality (320kbps) MP3 tracks from the London-based media company. At launch, the deal affects the US and Canada only, with more countries promised in 2011. PlayBook users will be able to search and preview tracks before purchasing with a discovery assist provided by 7digital’s music recommendation engine. The whole kit will be previewed this week at South by Southwest where we hope to get some hands-on time. Full press release after the break.

Update: RIM’s now also announced a new BlackBerry Podcasts app to go along with the music store, and it’s provided a video showing off both. Check it out after the break, and hit up the link below for some additional details.

Update 2: The eagle-eyed folks over at Crackberry have noticed an entry for a PIN around the 2:37 mark. This certainly seems to jive with the fact that the PlayBook will eventually be getting native BlackBerry services, so the presence of a PIN shouldn’t be too surprising — though hard evidence is always welcome. Screencap after the break.

Continue reading BlackBerry Playbook to feature 7digital’s 13 milllion track music store (update: PIN seemingly confirmed, too)

BlackBerry Playbook to feature 7digital’s 13 milllion track music store (update: PIN seemingly confirmed, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We won’t read too much into this, but it comes at an interesting time — with only a month left before RIM is expected to debut the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the company’s chief marketing officer has resigned. The Wall Street Journal reports that RIM CMO Keith Pardy (formerly with Nokia) will leave due to “personal reasons” after a six-month transition period is up. The publication’s anonymous sources add that Pardy actually made the decision a month ago, and that the move “reflects larger turmoil” within RIM — as opposed to any sort of knee-jerk reaction over the iPad 2 launch, we suppose. To be frank, we’re a little worried about the fate of the PlayBook if it’s indeed close to launch — when we tried a prototype at the Game Developer’s Conference this past week in San Francisco, the hardware was still pretty solid, but the software was a bit sparse, and what was there felt like it needed more than a few coats of polish.

[Thanks, Jonathan W.]

RIM’s chief marketing officer resigns originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a short and sweet disclosure from BGR this morning as multiple sources have apparently informed the news outlet that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook will make its debut on store shelves on April 10th. The BlackBerry Tablet OS will reach Gold Master status on March 31st, according to the same soothsayers, which is late enough in proceedings to necessitate it being delivered as an update upon first booting up your device. We too have heard of a late March / early April launch for the PlayBook, which RIM itself promised for the first quarter of 2011, though the intrigue of what carriers will be providing you with connectivity on this 7-incher remains. You’ll know more as soon as we do.

BlackBerry PlayBook to be released on April 10th? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not rare to hear talk of other operating systems employing webOS-like elements — we’ve been asking to see its elegant notification system in iOS for years — but RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook borrows so heavily from the UI concepts of the software built by Palm and now owned by HP that it could easily be confused for a webOS tablet. It handles multiple concurrent applications using a card view and allows you to shut down unwanted apps by swiping them off the screen, a multitasking implementation that exhibits “uncanny similarities” in HP’s eyes to its own TouchPad tablet. Still, the Hewlett Packard team insist that they’re focused on their own products and will “keep innovating, we’ll keep honing and those guys hopefully will continue to see the value in it and keep following us by about a year.” Ouch.

RIM’s response, as espoused by Jeff McDowell, has been to say that “when you’re trying to optimize user experience that juggles multitasking, multiple apps open at once and on a small screen, you’re going to get people landing on similar kinds of designs.” This essentially sidesteps the issue by throwing a subtle compliment HP’s way, but it brings up an interesting question — shouldn’t companies aim to make the best software possible, in spite of it potentially looking like a ripoff of someone else’s work?

HP derides BlackBerry PlayBook OS as a ‘fast imitation’ of webOS, RIM says it’s just good UI design originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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