With the release of RIM’s PlayBook only a month away in the US, the Canadian company are stirring up hype about their new tablet.
One of the features of the new device will be a FaceTime style video chatting system, a slick application, which will be preloaded onto the device and allows peer-to-peer video conferencing. The app has been developed solely by RIM and will be exclusive to the PlayBook.
The much-hyped BlackBerry Playbook tablet PC could be making its way to stores in America in April and be sold at the relatively low price of US$499.
Makers of the device Research In Motion (RIM) have been keeping their release dates and price-tags pretty much to themselves so far but a leak picked up by the CrackBerry website appears to suggest that Home Depot will be selling the tablet in a matter of weeks.
IBM has shown off cloud-based software on the BlackBerry PlayBook, offering the tablet a lifeline as it nears launch.
Research In Motion’s (RIM’s) co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie appeared on stage at IBM conference Lotusphere to display IBM’s cloud-based products on the soon-to-be released tablet.
The software includes a cloud computing version of LotusLive Symphony, an office package that allows different people to work on documents, spreadsheets and presentations in separate at the same time.
App developers are backing the trend towards tablet PCs and are increasingly interested in creating tools that work with Android-operated slates, according to a recent poll.
The research firm IDC, in collaboration with Appcelerator, quizzed over 2,000 developers about which platforms they are “very interested” in creating applications for and Android tablets saw the biggest spike of all the latest consumer tech offerings.
IDC’s survey took place right after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month and appears to bode well for the various Android Honeycomb tablets that are expected to be coming onto the market in the first half of this year.
Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has doubled its earnings figures during the final quarter of 2010 and promised to start delivering its own range of tablet PCs.
A much advanced brand profile and the popularity of devices like the Desire smartphone helped HTC to boost its net profits by a whopping 160 per cent year-on-year during the final three months of last year.
The company has been able to take advantage of the growing prevalence of Android operated devices and managed to increase its profits by just over 30 per cent from the third quarter of 2010 to the fourth.
The Taiwanese consumer tech firm HTC is reportedly planning to introduce a trio of Android operated tablet PCs over the next few months, with the first expected to hit American stores before the end of March.
Sources from within the company’s supply chain have told Digitimes that a device called The Flyer will be first off the conveyor belt of HTC branded tablets and that it will be running on Android 2.3.
Research in Motion (RIM) is reportedly going to release the BlackBerry Playbook in the UK this April – although it will be targeted at business users.
The manufacturer said that its debut tablet would be aimed at the B2B market back in September.
What Mobile says a source is behind the recent claims that back up this earlier aim.
