In The BlackBerry PlayBook could become available in India between 23rd and 30th June. The device was launched in the US and Canada during last April, and according to an official announcement from RIM it is going to reach India, Britain, France, Australia, the UAE and 10 other countries during the next 30 days. The pre-registration process for the device is now open in India. According to the announcement on the BlackBerry India website, those who pre-register, will have an exclusive gift couriered to their address. A HDMI cable and a leather case will be given for free to all customers.
Unlike the iPad, which had witnessed a huge response in countries like USA and Canada, the PlayBook has sold in much fewer numbers. RIM will be hoping for a better response from India, which has more than a million BlackBerry users. It is these BlackBerry users who are going to be main target of the marketing campaign for the PlayBook. The WiFi enabled tablet is capable of linking with the BlackBerry phones through a system called BlackBerry Bridge, which negates the need for any subscription to a wireless career. So you can use the tablet to have a real time access to email, calendar, address book, task lists, Documents to Go and much else.
The device comes with two cameras a 3MP forward facing camera, and 5 MP rear facing camera. The slick surface, measuring 7 inches diagonally, looks smaller than what we have in the iPad 2, but the size comparable to most tablets that are in the market toady. The major point of difference lies in the OS. While most non-Apple tablets are having Android as OS, the PlayBook has been built by RIM from scratch and it evokes the feeling of the OS that we have already experienced in BlackBerry devices. Unlike iPad, the PlayBook runs Adobe Flash, so the browsing experience is definitely better. It also has HTML 5 for rich video content.
As RIM is known for its focus on professional business class users, its tablet is designed to be a workhorse. You have access to word processing, spreadsheet, and lot of useful apps. The onscreen keyboard is surprisingly accurate, one can get used to it in relatively short period of time. Even if you are multi-tasking you might be able to get eight to ten ours of battery life, and that should be good enough for most of us. The reviews that PlayBook has got in USA have not been good enough, but that could also be due to the tablet fatigue that the world is experiencing. Large numbers of tablets have been launched in very short period of time.
Will PlayBook make a mark in India? We will have the answer to that question after 23rd June. The device is expected to retail range of Rs. 27000 to Rs. 30000.
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