Technological preferences changes very rapidly these days, it was only last year when Netbook was at its peak of the demand curve, and suddenly the whole world is talking about Tablets. These touchscreen devices with virtual keypads (only) have come into the picture big-time, especially after the iPad has surfaced.
Netbook choice reports of a rumor that RIM might be planning to bring out a Tablet. Apparently the US based mobile phone giant has ordered an 8.9-inch tablet from Hon Hai Precision Industries Ltd. that will ship in late Q3 2010 or early Q4 2010. This is unusual especially after IM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis recently told Walt Mossberg that, “I don’t see the benefits of a tablet over a notebook… A lot of technology falls in the middle.”- As reported by Netbook choice. But then again, Blackberry recently acquired QNX, a specialist in embedded software, which could fuel some suspicion towards the truth of this rumor.
Hon Hai Precision is the company that also manufactures the Kindle for Amazon. This new Blackberry Tablet will be able to synchronize data with the phones through Wi-Fi or 3.5G. A lot of content should be subsidized with advertizing. The volume expectation and pricing is not known yet.
Blackberry’s strength has always been in their awesome messaging service, and not so much in the multimedia front. So does a Tablet make sense? Do you want to have a larger display just to view your mails on one page? No, so RIM better keep their multimedia quotient straight if this Tablet ever hopes to compete against the iPads and HP Slates. Also people were not very happy with the touchscreen phones from Blackberry, so they really have to do much better in case of a 9-inch touchscreen.
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