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It’s Official, folks. RIM, makers of the iconic Blackberry, an Enterprise platform’s best friend, is planning to launch their RIM Playbook on Sunday April 10th 2011 according to BGR (Boy Genius Report). But before you, dear reader, start cavorting about and grinding you hand crank organ like a Hurdy-Gurdy Man, Caveat Lector!

This somber date was revealed as the must-launch First Quarter debut for the controversial RIM Playbook by BGR (Boy Genius Report) on Saturday March 2nd 2011. One thing from my experience is that as Saturday follows Sunday, BGR has always been very accurate.


So just in case I might have to end up tasting the heel of my shoes or be sent to the woodshed, I double-checked and lo and behold, BGR, to castigate them in Jamaican patios, “unnu let me down star!”

So RIM fanatics, throw away your calendars if you marked them, as the above date made no sense anyway (the visual clue)!

Sunday April 10th 2011!? Really BGR?!

The official date for the Launch Party (‘cause that’s how they roll in Silicon Valley!) is on Thursday April 14th 2011 with the product eventually going on sale on Tuesday April 19th 2011.

Fresh off the Press information corroborated by the Daily Telegraph and the UK Guardian, a pair of very British Bulldogs in Tabloid incarnation and a coquettish online blog GizmoCrave that resides in an out-of-the-way corner of the ‘Net!

And unlike the Motorola Xoom going on sale on Thursday March 10th 201 to be trounced by what is affectionately referred to by Apple Fanboys as Apple iPad Day on Friday April 11th 2011AD, there is NO Apple products slated – pun oh so very much deliberate – for any of those dates.

Now down to business: Tablet specs.

The Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) only 7” WSVGA (Wide Super Video Graphics Array) Capacitive Screen RIM Playbook sports a 1GHz Dual-Core Processor that supports symmetric multiprocessing.

The Apple iPad made Dual-Core Processor de riguer for all competing Tablets post-Friday April 11th 2011AD as dittoed in my Apple iPad 2 – Dual-Core Easy Skankin’ piece-de-resistance.

This new contender, weighing in at 0.9lbs (425g), several ounces lighter, owes its wiry frame to its boxy yet stylishly handful finger food or party entrée helping dimensions: 5.1″ x 7.6″ x 0.4″ (130mm x 194mm x 10mm).

Like a good PlayMate…er…I mean PlayBook, it is the size of a decent set of Playbook cards used in American football. Thus the clever custom-fitted name that makes it so svelte, with its ONX OS suited for the Enterprise or Corporate environment.

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A bit thredbare in the apps department, but after all, it is a spankin’ new OS with optional Bluetooth tethering to create an ecosystem with its RIM Blackberry companion!

It has dual 1080p HD cameras complemented by excellent albeit minimalist Stereo speakers and stereo microphones. It also sports a 1GB DDRAM RAM (Random Access Memory) and comes in three (3) Enterprise ready suites (‘cause RIM not into the flava’ thing, star!), again a play taken from the Apple iPad 2, as tabled below:

Company Name Size (GB) Price $ Network
RIM  (Research in Motion) Playbook 16 499 Wi-Fi  and Bluetooth Tethering
RIM  (Research in Motion) Playbook 32 599 Wi-Fi  and Bluetooth Tethering
RIM  (Research in Motion) Playbook 64 699 Wi-Fi  and Bluetooth Tethering

The usual suspects in the identity parade, now standard, that I can write without even opening my eyes: GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer).

No Thermometer or Barometer as in the case of the Motorola Xoom in this otherwise made-for-the-Enterprise Tablet. And STILL no scoop on the Battery Life!

Differences abound between RIM’s ONX OS powered offering and the iOS-Centric Apple iPad 2 Ecosystem: check my article “Apple iPad 2 – Dual-Core Easy Skankin’ ” for comparisons. The Playbook, by virtue of its smaller screen real-estate, is lighter and apparently thinner.

Too bad boys and girls!

The prices are not a reflection of that mantra. Also there is no 3G or LTE models in the current line-up, which for the professional Young and the Restless crowd, will make them flick their manicured hand over their RIM Blackberry Torch 9800 and say: passe

However, the RIM Playbook is holding out on the Tech World, as the lack of Battery Life specs on Full HD video playback and other power intensive tasks and Standby Battery Times have still not been made public, the main swing voter for those regular customers, will leave many undecided customers still sitting on the fence.

But I must disappoint you dear Reader; this is not for regular customers.

Not by a long shot. This is a toy for the Big Boys. The Executives. The Enterprise and Corporate clients. Mr. Big Shot!

Expect a Global worldwide launch on all Telecoms Networks, as its main feature, Bluetooth tethering to synch to the owners Blackberry will endear it to many Large and Small Enterprise and Corporate Customers who like the Apple iPad and Tablets in general but want something more sophisticated and more Enterprise-ready.

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RIM Playbook fits right into this niche market that RIM, despite falling to third place in the Smartphone OS race according to Nielsen and ComScore, had as their Strong Tower.

Android fragmentation issues, albeit limited to pre-Google Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread, is going to be a serious hindrance to Google Android being ported as a phone for the Enterprise setting.

Android phones are just not Professional looking. Fragmentation makes them unreliable for the Enterprise and Corporate Jet set, already used to CUG (Closed User Groups) and the confidence of RIM renown encrypted Blackberry Messenger and Email, reputed to be so well encrypted, that not even RIM can read them.

With so many cheap phones, Google may be number one in the eyes of the bean counters [statisticians and Analysts], but unlike Apple, they have no incendie dans le ventre.

So despite being No. 3 in the smartphone race, RIM realizes that all the hoopla about mass markets and Postpaid Subscribers is nothing but vapid imagining by Google.

Google, which is just getting its feet wet in the Enterprise with their partner-in-crime Unisys ion a US$6.7 billion dollar contract to shift the US Government’s General Services Administration (GSA) into Cloud-based services such as Gmail and Google Docs.

So RIM’s lower than normal forecast for the rest of the year is not a reflection of a poor balance sheet, but a renewed focus on R&D into what appears to be a grand opportunity to strengthen their ties with their long time, faithful Enterprise and Corporate clients.

Android Apps not necessarily needed…..at all. Just some tech evangelism akin to that of Motorola [20] to drum up Developer support for the QNX Platform!

But they best move fast!

Otherwise Android, thus far disorganized and literally fragmented on the smartphone OS Platform, may eventually regroup and achieve the same success in the Tablet space as it has done in the smartphone arena.

RIM’s main bread and butter has always been the Enterprise and Corporate Customers; thus the RIM Playbook would win one for the Enterprise and Corporate Teams.

Launch Party on Thursday April 14th 2011 awaits! Pre-orders for the RIM Playbook start on Thursday April 7th 2011!

Product goes on sale on Tuesday April 19th 2011!

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