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Last weekend we noticed that RIM was experimenting with a $200 price cut in Canada, however, with the unveiling of the Amazon Fire the company has decided to not just move its discount across the border, but make it permanent. The 16GB entry level playbook now starts at only $299 for Wi-Fi only, and goes up by $100 increments when moving up to the 32GB, and 64GB configurations.
Few will argue that the price cuts weren’t necessary, but it makes us wonder, will it be enough? Without a rich content ecosystem its unlikely RIM will ever hit Amazon’s $199 price point, especially when you consider it is estimated that the build cost of the Fire which is very similar to the Playbook, costs about $210 to build. To add to the pain, since Research in Motion doesn’t sell direct to consumers, they need to charge slightly more so that the retailers get enough of a cut to make it worth stocking.
The only saving grace for the Playbook at this point is that the Kindle Fire, for now at least, is US only. That still gives RIM an opportunity to make a dent internationally with the Playbook and its QNX operating system, but will the price cut be enough? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS
October 03, 2011 at 4:19am
Um...what do you do with these things? "Surf" the web and read books, right? Email?
JCGPZ9
October 03, 2011 at 5:20am
This is where I start favoring the Amazon Kindle Fire. A decently sized portable device for reading, web browsing and getting emails while being quite affordable.
kixofmyg0t
October 02, 2011 at 5:32pm
Would only be interested in this if it were $99 for the 16GB model. Its seriously not worth its current price(or capacity cuz you'll NEVER have enough content on it to fill it up) Shame on RIM for this half baked attempt at a tablet.
fuzz_64
October 02, 2011 at 3:00pm
After seeing the $200 price reduction, I snagged one too. I know of a few people who did this.. Pretty sure that RIM will report some pretty good sales after this week despite not making as much profit per unit.
A buddy of mine works actually works on the OS development team so I got to see some of the new updates in action. I'm sold.
Holly Golightly
October 02, 2011 at 2:06pm
Rim has done it. I am gonna get the Blackberry Playbook 64GB WiFi. This is a must have for me now.
iceman08
October 02, 2011 at 2:18pm
$200 less than a 64GB iPad 2...not a bad price point. I wasn't impressed when I messed with it on a store display, but we'll see if it improves
Holly Golightly
October 02, 2011 at 8:41pm
The Blackberry playbook feels right to hold. The iPad is too big, and I have to hold it with 2 hands. The design of the iPad feels a bit too plain. It feels incredibly fragile and very manly in dimensions. The Playbook, I can easily tuck away in my purse. It is small enough for me to hold with 1 hand, or I can type with both hands if I feel like. Overall, I was absolutely impressed with the Playbook.
