∞ Wait… RIM's PlayBook sucks ass, but it's HP that cancels its tablet

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What kind of perverse, unforgiving parallel universe did I wake up in that allowed the PlayBook to still be on the market, and HP’s TouchPad has been discontinued.

[ad#Google Adsense 300x250 in story]The PlayBook is perhaps the most useless piece of crap to ever be released and yet it continues on with promises from the company that they’ll fix it. That’s not a product strategy.

It’s not just customers that don’t want the PlayBook — Sprint recently joined AT&T and Verizon saying no to the PlayBook.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the TouchPad was perfect, it wasn’t. However, it had the best chance to take second place to the iPad. More importantly, it had webOS, which I thought was probably the best alternative to iOS.

With the announcement from HP last night, it’s not only the TouchPad that’s gone, all webOS devices are gone.

That makes me think there is something else going on here. Marco Arment has a good point in his post last night.

Such motivators may include a big offer to buy the large patent portfolio formerly owned by Palm and likely extended by HP, which probably has a lot of applications in smartphone and tablet software.

Patents are a big draw these days and there’s no doubt that HP has a huge portfolio of patents that could bring in billions of dollars.

Another bad sign for HP is that developers are giving up — not a big surprise, but that doesn’t bode well for licensing webOS. All that’s left is to sell the patents.

Too bad.


  • Anonymous

    Always the good who die young.

    • http://www.theuniversalsteve.com Anonymous

      Wait. Isn’t Rupert Murdoch like 80 years old?

  • http://twitter.com/Walt_Basil Walt Basil

    At least HP had the guts to pull out when they realized it wasn’t going work. Seriously though, I think some other company will end up buying the webOS franchise.

  • Anonymous

    RIM is kind of like Oliver St John-Mollusc in Monty Python’s “Upper Class Twit of the Year” skit. “There’s Oliver now, he’s at the back. I think he’s having a little trouble with his old brain injury, he’s going to have a go, no, no, bad luck, he’s up, he doesn’t know when he’s beaten, this boy, he doesn’t know when he’s winning either. He doesn’t have any sort of sensory apparatus.”

  • Anonymous

    Hey Jim – The Playbook is not a “piece of crap”. It’s not complete but but that does not imply that it’s not good. Don’t be a jerk.

    • Matt_99_hey

      Are you stuttering? Jerks can do whatever they want, even call the Playbook a piece of crap (because it is). Yeah!

      RIM will be doing a restructuring too soon. Here’s to hoping for one CEO who knows what to do instead of two who don’t!

    • Gustav

      Actually, being “not complete” does imply that it’s not good. Relying on a Blackberry phone to provide email and calendar makes it phone accessory, not a tablet.

      • Wido

        Relying on the Blackberry Bridge for security reason and also accessing the FULL internet anywhere at no extra cost makes it the greatest truly portable little tablet, not a phone.

        • Anonymous

          Others disagree. Apparently quite a few cause Android and iOS aside, have you seen the sales on the Playbook. Not good at all. 

      • Dan

        Honestly, who cares about native email? Who cares about calendar? Anyone who does probably has a phone to do that for them already. I could name a certain other tablet that isn’t even a phone accessory, it’s just a big iPod…

        • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

          Ordinary users. The point is not having to do this on a phone screen, but on a larger tablet screen.

          Stop trolling.

    • Jimcmf

      I have a PlayBook. No extra data plan required. The PlayBook will pay for itself in less then a year.

      Awesome idea.

      Thanks RIMM.

      • Vamsmack

        Sweet imagine all the email you can send with that unlimited data!

        • iRanFromApple

          Ignorant.

        • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

          Yeah Vamsmack, how can you be so rationally ignorant to point out obvious flaws in a product?

          • iRanFromApple

            Fanboi of a fanboy!

          • Vamsmack

            That’s the cross I have to bear. 

            I’d like to know what is ignorant about my comment but i’ll only get unintelligible straw man counter points from you or worse a single word response. 

            BRB going to go send some emails to my staff on my iPad.

          • Dan

            If he is getting no extra data plan, he’s obviously using BB Bridge, which means he does get his email. Therefore, you were ignorant of the fact that his email will work perfectly fine.

        • Jth9234

          Ummm… yea, my Playbook actually does email better than your iPad when bridged and doesn’t need extra data plans or tethering plans to get internet everywhere. Oh and without being bridged the saved email sites that actually remember you work fine.

          Playbook does email great, just doesn’t do automatic notifications when not bridged. But I guess ignorance is bliss, keep truckin’ with that iPad and its mobile sites, no flash, extra monthly data bills, and isolated ecosystem…

          • Vamsmack

            “…Playbook actually does email better than your iPad when bridged”
            Yeah mine does that all the time. I have WiFi in the office at home where I use my ipad and if I am somewhere inbetween my iPhone works as a modem with no additional charges because it’s all inclusive on my plan.

            “But I guess ignorance is bliss, keep truckin’ with that iPad and its mobile sites, no flash, extra monthly data bills, and isolated ecosystem…”

            Mobile sites? You sure you should be operating any kind of tech? I haven’t yet run into a site which runs anything but the normal site.

            Flash? I’d rather have 10 hours of battery life. 

            Already addressed the data issue.

            Isolated ecosystem? Awesome I am being told by a Playbook owner about isolated eco systems. Amazing.

          • Dan

            “no additional charges because it’s all inclusive on my plan”
            The point he was making is that you don’t need to pay extra on the plan to bridge a PlayBoook…
            Also, I don’t see any reason why you wouldnt want the option of flash… You can always turn it off if you really need to squeeze every drop out of that battery.
            Oh, and the ecosystem on the iPad is way more isolated. Everything is done through itunes. On a PlayBook, you can get music, videos, etc from anywhere.
            Also, with a simple application found on Crackberry, you can install apps from outside of App World, (like the leaked Android Player).
            I believe Crackberry.com loads as a mobile site on an iPad. I haven’t confirmed this, but that’s what I heard.

          • Vamsmack

            “…Playbook actually does email better than your iPad when bridged”
            Yeah mine does that all the time. I have WiFi in the office at home where I use my ipad and if I am somewhere inbetween my iPhone works as a modem with no additional charges because it’s all inclusive on my plan.

            “But I guess ignorance is bliss, keep truckin’ with that iPad and its mobile sites, no flash, extra monthly data bills, and isolated ecosystem…”

            Mobile sites? You sure you should be operating any kind of tech? I haven’t yet run into a site which runs anything but the normal site.

            Flash? I’d rather have 10 hours of battery life. 

            Already addressed the data issue.

            Isolated ecosystem? Awesome I am being told by a Playbook owner about isolated eco systems. Amazing.

    • Dan Woods

      The TouchPad was not complete, but could have done with a bit of polish.
      The Playbook is not complete, it can do with being stripped back to bare metal and rebuilt from the ground up.

      Compared to the TouchPad, The Playbook *is* a piece of crap.

      • Dan

        In what way? The Playbook has a nicer screen, more portability, faster processor, two great cameras, lower weight, a better back that doesn’t get covered in finger prints easily, the list goes on. What does the touchpad have? A bigger screen…

    • Guy

      The Playbook is far from being a piece of crap. Even the most negative reviews recognize that it has the best tablet hardware. There are some issues with the software but it is being improved at each regular updates. I love my Playbook.

      • http://www.facebook.com/everett.vinzant Everett Vinzant

        “reviews recognize that it has the best tablet hardware.”  It may be true that the reviews say this, but I find it hard to believe.  Before HP decided to shutter their tablet business, they ran a few tests.  WebOS was tested on an iPad.  WebOS on an iPad outperformed the HP tablet.  Then they tried running WebOS in Safari on the iPad.  Results again were impressive.  If you want to see how well your OS runs, why wouldn’t you run it on the highest end equipment on the market?  Or, they did, and the reviews aren’t entirely accurate?

        • Dan

          Well, the PlayBook has a different aspect ratio for one thing, so WebOS would be harder to test on it. The screen is also smaller, so the experience wouldn’t be anything like it is on a touchpad or ipad. Also, they would have had to code WebOS to work without a home button, using the PlayBook gestures instead. The iPad has hardware similar to the touchpad,, whereas the PlayBook does not, that’s all.
          In terms of hardware, PlayBook vs iPad, Playbook has more RAM, lower weight, Better cameras, better (although smaller) screen, more portability, better speakers, and HDMI out without buying a special adapter, just off the top of my head. The iPad has a bigger screen, (which I consider a disadvantage, but others disagree), and it’s about a mm thinner. The only things the iPad bests the PlayBook on are app selection and a cool factor that I don’t understand.

    • Anonymous

      It’s called an opinion. Jim has a right to one, the right to speak it etc. That you disagree with him doesn’t make him a jerk

      But telling him in effect to STFU and not give his opinion on his own site, does make you one. 

    • Hliaw Liaw

      I like your comment

  • Nehmeg

    It’s almost funny how much hate journalists have towards RIM and their products.
    RIM and their products are not going anywhere. Just because the protectionist USA is ditching RIM doesn’t mean RIM will fail. USA is not the whole world as the average brainwashed american has grown to believe.
    The Playbook is the best piece of hardware ever built. It’s being approved by governments left and right. The only issue that’s holding back the Playbook is the # of apps and that will be resoled soon when the android player is released. By then the PB will be a serious machine for enterprise and for gaming.

    • Steven Fisher

      LOL!

      Blackberries are every bit as crappy as anyone here thinks.

      By the way, is this you?

      https://twitter.com/#!/nehmeg/following

      • His Shadow

        I will let you know about that. Work is moving me from a Curve to a Torxh. My personal gear is an iPhone 4 and an iPad.

    • http://www.theuniversalsteve.com Anonymous

      Wow. I wonder why my sockpuppet alarm just started blaring.

    • Jth9234

      Still 50 million Blackberry users out there and governments around the world appear to be looking towards the Playbook as a device to adopt.

      You are right people in America are brainwashed by the Apple marketing machine. Yet if you are a Blackberry owner you can bridge to a Playbook for free vs. risky rooting or jailbreaking with other phones with other tablets. Free data everywhere.

      Playbook appears to be improving every month with software updates. If you own a Blackberry its already the best tablet out there, in the coming months the way the updates keep coming, it might not matter BB or not, the hardware is already so good vs. other tablets it just continues to unlock its potential. Already has the best screen resolution, speakers, and UI. Well UI is debatable, but the first two things are not…

      • Dan Woods

        Blackberrys and Playbooks appeal to Corporations because they are of limited use, You can’t do much with them. Therefore, They are less likely to be abused by Employees.

        That doesn’t make them great devices, in fact it makes them completely useless to Consumers. (Unless the consumer doesn’t have very extensive needs).

        • john

          ridiculous comment, they appeal because of the Enterprise Solution… its the only one that meets the strict government confidentiality and security requirements for remote data access…

          the playbook is a great tablet. i’m guessing your some sweet iboy who hasnt even picked one up. 

    • Guylh

      I totally agree. It is disturbing to see all this bashing for RIM products. As if all journalists and reviewers were all blind followers of the guru Steve Jobs. Apple has great products of course and, above all, has the best marketing. But the reality is that RIM still produces the highest quality hardware for their Blackberry phones AND the Playbook.

    • http://www.facebook.com/everett.vinzant Everett Vinzant

      Okay.

      Stop drinking the kool-aid.

      RIM gets government contracts because… they conceded to what governments want.  There’s no email, there’s no calendar (except on the blackberry it connects to).  That makes it easier for a government to control the data of the people that work for it and use this product.  That DOES NOT make it better.  In fact, it makes it worse for the average person that spends time on the internet.  Of the functions I use most, two were listed (mail and calendar).  It’s a non contender from the get go.  Yes, it has it’s niche market.

  • Joefiorino337

    The only thing here that sucks ass is your piece of crap reporting. AT&T and Verizon have not given up on the Playbook they are still in testing with 4 G Sprint is not working with 4 G so has passed on the Playbook . QNX on the Playbook shines. Perhaps HP figured it couldnt compete and threw in the towel. Maybe writers like you should do he same

    • http://www.theuniversalsteve.com Anonymous

      Just wondering: are you and Nehmeg working in the same cubicle?

      • Peter Cohen

        At the very least, their heads are stuck in the same orifice.

        • Nehmeg

          Maybe you should get your heads out of your own orifices.

          • Peter Cohen

            We’d at least have the benefit of still being correct.

          • Nehmeg

            Correct about what? About the crooked CEOS of your financial institutions how they sucked your money out of your pockets and then you go dumping billions of tax payers dollars on them so they can keep making their millions in bonuses while millions of Americans are losing their homes and living in poverty. You are a joke.
            Within a few years from now the average American will not be able to afford a $75.00 Nokia dumb phone.
            No wonder the president of RIM don’t sound so gloomy when they talk about the future of RIM. They know the USA market is becoming more and more irrelevant by the day. The real money to be made is in the international markets. It’s a big world out there.

            So tell me again. What are you right about?

          • Vamsmack

            So you got backed into a corner with your own stupidity and start attacking companies in the US. One key point, they all only have one CEO. They don’t need two people to make one person’s decisions.

          • Dan Woods

            Unfortunately, RIM are still targeting the US Market.

          • Nehmeg

            Of course they will target every market they can. But 300,000,000 out of 6,000,000,000 is an irrelevent number.

    • STL

      my goodness, such hate towards Jim.
      Jim has a proven excellent track record, whereas you have nothing I have ever heard about.
      .
      I tried the turd aka Playbook at a Staples.
      Know what? Jim is right.
      The Playbook is a piece of crap. 

  • Anonymous

    Anyone dumb enough to buy another set of patents from a dead company is insane! Motorola’s patents were NOT protecting them from Apple & Microsoft’s lawsuits. Google, who gives away a “free” OS & doesn’t make a dime off Android OS, just bought one of their “Open-Alliance” partners for $12.6B. That means Google just put themselves nearly $13B in debt + spent nearly 2-years worth of earnings on a company that hasn’t made a dollar in over 5-years. Palm’s patents aren’t worth more than Motorola’s. Overpaying for worthless IP only hurts the company buying it. It’s like buying a “lemon” at the car dealership. Why not just pile the money & light it on fire. Makes NO sense. Anyone interested in WebOS should stop beating this “dead” horse! Licensing or selling WebOS makes NO sense. The system programmers themselves said the software wasn’t meshed well with the hardware, meaning the whole thing wasn’t well thought out. It just doesn’t work! Just leave it alone & let this OS die in peace!

    • Anonymous

      There was a reason Apple never went after Palm for their blatant UI patent infringements.  That’s because Palm had their own arsenal of patents for defense.  Clearly, HP’s patents in this area are worth something… probably more than $1 billion.  That’s for the patent experts to determine.  Apple should be interested.  It would be a drop in the bucket and could be a very cost effective counter to Google’s $12.5 Billion patent purchase in Motorola.

  • Katman

    Who’s Jim Dalrymple?

  • Whatever

    playbook is a seriously good device specifically for blackberry phone owners. It is somehow bothering to those who cannot benefit from rim devices, to throw crap at them. But as the author also realized, playbook is not going anywhere. It might seem difficult to understand but it’s really irrelevant whether u get it or not. RIM is a huge brand in many countries and once again, Americans forget that they are not the whole world. We do not even represent the whole world. We do not need to either. We just need to be a bit more aware of what’s happening around us so we do not sound like ignorant jerks (ex. the author of this piece of junk article).

    • Gustav

      Oh! Now I get it. It’s a Blackberry phone accessory, not a functional tablet. That makes so much more sense now. Though, a tad expensive for an accessory, don’t you think?

      • Anonymous

        Just imagine having to carry a dongle for you iPhone that’s over twice the size of the phone itself. Gee, I could imagine that being a winner.

        • Jth9234

          oh puleaze, if Steve Jobs had one his conferences and invented iBridge, everyone would be singing praises for him and Apple. The media and fans would be cheering a life changing coup for the consumer in circumventing the carriers extra hotspot and tethering fees.

          Instead bc RIM invented Bridge, its viewed as a weakness or marginalized as a niche market? Ummm… hello there are 50 million active blackberries out there, thats a huge potential market, not a niche…

  • Peter Imrie

    Cheers Whatever.

    The only thing funnier than the complete arrogance of Apple Groupies, is the complete and utter stupidity of their arguments.  They almost always contain no facts, but do include descriptive and compelling arguments that contain verbs like “crap”, “sucks”, “jerks”, “orifices” and of course as the title of this article says “sucks ass”.

    Brilliant argument man.

    • Peter Cohen

      Ah, the savory nectar of self-righteous indignation. It dances upon my lips like ambrosia.

      • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

        Thank you. Keyboard wet now. Dammit.

    • Crisrod63

      The thing about Apple Groupies is that they seem to be growing in numbers. Actually in an exponential way. So I wonder what Apple is doing to deceive so many? Think for one second, what if what Apple is doing is actually giving consumers a solid solution, one that actually works in a very elegant and well supported way. Man, it must be a really bad time to be an Apple heater.

  • Jettgerbil

    Do they actually pay you to write this drivel.
    This is not journalism it is flagrant “APPLE FANBOY” BS.
    “If it not Apple it must suck….” This is too much…let us not forget some truly great Apple blunders the primary one….the antenna is OK the person is not holding the cell-phone properly….
    Plus everyone forgets that not more than a decade or so ago,  Apple was in such dire straits they had were on the verge of bankruptcy.
    Also, after over thirty years, Apple computers still only account for less then 15%of the total market….with your logic they should quit the computer market…..
    The only “Crappy” thing in the article was the article itself…
    Better go back to your real job of cleaning the tables at a bad fast food joint.

  • Anonymous

    “The PlayBook is perhaps the most useless piece of crap to ever be released”

    Don’t let matt burns hear that he using one.

  • Pcar

    are you an idiot every day or just today?

  • Whitemike

    Obviously the bb haters have not invested the money or time into a playbook. The playbook is awesome – once you begin to answer “how can i use a tablet”.  Its the same question other tablets users must answer.  BES is the last service to die in an exchange outage and bb’s use less energy per email than any other device.  Lets see where your guys are after your iPhone / android gets hacked.

    bb haters must not understand the term “high-availability”.  a passing bird is liable to knock out activesuck

    my most used bb features: the bridge, tethering and its small size.  oh yea, flash on a mobile device is still trippy.  QNX freaking rocks!  itshard to pick. i have it paired to their new 9900. finally, 4G tether!

    why would one want to download email on so many devices?

    its a good move by hp to drop the tablet.  they are stretched too thin as it is.  their business pc line and servers are solid.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LAT3HLCFNKCY4WUEEZJ5YTLCIE LionTamer

     ”RIM has decided to prioritize and focus its 4G development resources on LTE,” it said in a statement.

    Get your facts straight. RIM dropped WiMAX. Thus the Sprint WiMax version. Because they are going for the larger market.

    Get your facts straight, and stop spreading misinformation.

    I love my PB. :)

  • http://www.theuniversalsteve.com Anonymous

    Wow, Jim. You really tapped a rich vein of raving and well-nigh-incoherent Apple bashers with this one. Congratulations! Some of these spittle-flecked screeds are really hilarious.

    I love it when these people think that iPad purchasers are brainwashed by the Apple marketing machine. My mother and sister, both of whom are completely not tech savvy, each bought an iPad without any input or encouragement from me. They don’t read tech blogs and they’ve certainly never seen a Stevenote. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve never seen an Apple commercial. They bought them because the people they know who have them absolutely love them.

    I, on the other hand, a person who does read tech blogs, has seen many Stevenotes, and has watched Apple commercials on his own volition, do not own an iPad. Why? Because I haven’t come up with a compelling reason. The way my life is right now, I just don’t need one. I guess Apple’s marketing isn’t so great after all.

  • Sharmajai

    I am sure, you have never used a playbook. It is a way better tablet than an ipad2.

  • Rockies2000

    The playbook is the worst piece of crap……????…Really???? What utter nonsense from another self proclaimed tech expert,apple fan boy. I have a PB and iPad 2…and I prefer the PB hands down. Maybe you think that by publishing this nonsense more ipads will be sold and the US economy will recover????? Is that your reason?? Ok….I save A LOT because I share my data plan with my BB phone or Android phone. The PB is far superior with respect to hardware….flash…and very soon will be able to run android apps…tell me…what is the basis of your stupid article….please

  • https://twitter.com/#!/danielhedlund Daniel Hedlund

    In the end of the day, PlayBook users are stuck with a “tablet” (and I call it a tablet loosely) that can’t do everything that an iPad can do TODAY. It may or may not be more competitive in the future, but as things stand –  TODAY – it is an inferior product to the iPad or even an iPod Touch. 

  • http://twitter.com/JackRAiNz Ron Jack Rainz

    “corporations and governments like them!” (*mimics sniveling voice*)
    Thats rich… as @google-a07db1393b8911c0d7c8e34cf5daafaf:disqus intelligently stated: “That doesn’t make them great devices, in fact it makes them completely useless to consumers”. And Im going to add to that notion: Like it or not, the fact is (facts are: numbers, stats, quarterly sales) that the iPad is THE tablet to beat. You can own a Blackberry and use an iPad. Matter of fact, it doesn’t really matter what phone you use – because the Tablet experience is a separate one. But the same cant be said about the Playbook. “It has the best hardware out there” (*mimics sniveling voice*) – and yet it has no native email client. 
    You can have the best hardware in the world, but if your too dumb to give it software access, all you have is a state of the art paperweight. 

    long story short, Jim is dead on by calling the Playbook 
    a piece of crap, because it most certainly is.
    A half baked, half thought out, poorly executed excuse for a tablet.
    It should have been snuffed out long before the TouchPad.

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    I love reading sockpuppets who accuse me of having been brainwashed… by anyone. As if a significant percentage of them aren’t desperately defending their own Stockholm Syndrome. As if another significant percentage of them isn’t working for a marketing group that trolls comments for an insecure company. 

    As if I’m not part of a consumer market that simply buys stuff that works better for us, no matter what spec-chasers are screaming about at the moment.

    • iRanFromApple

      In other words, you are part of the herd.

      • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

        Whatever insults help you feel superior about your choices of consumer tech. Keep buying tech that sets you apart, you free-thinking maverick, you.

        Oh, hey. That’s a clever alias, too. Really gets the point across.

  • wilsonpossible

    Just a worthless theory…  but, after HP decided to cut production, and they sell off all inventory at ridiculous prices that people can’t help but to buy in at… if they sell out of inventory, they easily become the 2nd highest selling tablet, who wouldn’t create apps for it?!  you’d be crazy not to.  With less apps on the tablet, there’s less competition for people to buy and a decent user-base.  They could in theory end up gaining a decent chunk of market and more apps to boot. 

    They could then either retract their earlier decision, and help the eco-system, sell off to an eager buyer, or who knows… maybe that was their plan from the start… increase to user base drastically to keep producing or make it more attractive to sell.

    I for one will buy one if and when it gets back in stock.  I’m just upset I won’t be able to use a Pre3 to use it for it’s full potential. 

    • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

      In order for them to post any significant sales, over and above the liquidation of existing inventory, they’d have to keep manufacturing and selling these devices at a huge loss. That’s not a sustainable business, especially in the eyes of a CEO who inherited WebOS.

  • Steve

    Get your head out of Apples or Steve Jobs A$$ and take a breath of fresh air. WebOS was never going to be what HP hoped for it. Try picking up a Playbook for a bit and you’ll soon want to get off Apples payroll. The Playbook is NOT meant for baby’s and the elderly. Its OS and GUI is meant for people who can think for themselves. Yes, the Playbooks can run a bunch more video and audio formats, run flash, superior Screen resolution, Stereo speakers, no special equipment to connect to your TV, you can multitask, etc, etc ,etc. If Apple came into the game the same time others did, this whole tablet war would be so different.
    But hey, Steve Jobs just tells you its magical and you believe it don’t you? Maybe he should talk to you about Santa and the toothfairy too.

    • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

      For some reason your comment tickles me the wrong way so I’m going to respond.

      1. I don’t think you, nor any person outside HP’s c-level knows what HP hoped for with webOS. The only thing I can say, is that the Pre was a decent phone and even back then I considered webOS the only credible competitor to iOS in terms of UX and UI quality.

      2. [quote] {the PlayBook’s} OS and GUI is meant for people who can think for themselves.[/quote] While that might be the case, you’re missing the point. The reason iOS is so great, is that you almost don’t need to think to use it. The UX of the OS and many third party apps is are designed to disappear. As a geek (yes, I called myself a geek) I love this; I can concentrate on the things I want to do, without having to think about how to accomplish the task.

      3. Apple came into the game late, but with a few exceptions everybody came in even later. The crucial fact is that tablets post-iPad aren’t the same as tablets pre-iPad. In that sense Apple is actually the first-mover and everybody else are followers.
      To clarify: Tablets pre-iPad; full-blown PCs/Macs with a touch input layer added (self-sufficient host machines). Tablets post-iPad; specialised machines with tailored OSes (more or less self-sufficient client machines).

      I don’t know why people always assume that Apple users don’t think rationally about their purchases.
      I hope this gets through to you: eMacs and MacMacs aside, most of us buy Apple because we came to the conclusion that Apple’s offerings suit our needs best. In my case that meant going from Win XP to Ubuntu, to Fedora to Mac OS X.
      And the iPad wasn’t different: I had to decide between buying a MacBook Air and an iPad 2. In the end I found that I could live with the constraints of iOS, because the benefits in daily (to large parts university) use were greater than the drawbacks.

      • Jth9234

        Apple fans don’t think. The only product/service I think is best of breed and relevant is itunes. iPods were revolutionary and are still my fav mp3 players, but to a rational person should be obselete when phones can do everything ipods can.

        Macs have been and still are fine computers, but waaaay overpriced. Face it if you spent the same amount of money on a PC as a Mac your PC will better the better machine and gives way more value.

        iPhones despite reception problems and little customization or freedom in browser dl’s still sell? As a media device its good, as a communications device, its mediocre at best.

        iPads are good tablets but often don’t run the real websites all the other flash enabled tablets do. Are ipads best of breed, I would say no, its too gimped with lack of flash and running phone apps instead of real sites.

        • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

          Jth9234! You’re back! I was wondering when you’d weigh in on this article with that great collection of careless generalizations, disproven cliches, strawman excuses, and casual insults towards people you don’t know. Nice to see you again!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=789099619 Andy Brady

    It would be nice if people would actually try the playbook before they diss it.  I work in a wireless zone and we have ipad2, galaxy10 and 7, xoom and playbook active in store.  When any employee wants to play with a tablet they go to the playbook.  Doesn’t make it best or right for everyone but anyone who calls it crap has clearly created their opinion without ever testing the product.

    And now comes all the people saying “I have one and hate it” who have never even seen one haha.

    • Bishopmic00

      i got a playbook and i think its crap this is my second return in 8 months first the crap wouldnt turn on after 3 days now the touch screen goes out if thats not crap what is ? the internet connection keep dropping worst purchase ever for me>

  • Dan

    The Touchpad was the worst tablet on the market… I work at Staples, and I haven’t met even one customer who’s needs were a fit for the Touchpad over other tabs, including the PlayBook.
    What did the Touchpad have that makes it so much better than the PlayBook?

    • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

      A bridge to a phone that fewer consumers are buying every quarter.

  • Wcars0hq

    Playbook rulz. Got one and luv it! Freedom Baby!!!

  • Wcars0hq

    I don’t need the ICR Appp!

  • Mikereilly_1999

    RIM shipped us a free Playbook which I opened up today. It seemed
    promising at first then quickly descended to the same old, same old from
    Blackberry (eerily reminiscent of the Storm, which is a godawful excuse
    for a smartphone). Unresponsive touch screen. Huge update to install
    right out of the box. Had to manually pair with my Bold since the
    automatic pairing failed. Worst of all, no apparent back button or way
    to exit apps like when viewing Messages. I found myself totally stuck
    with no apparent way to go back to the main menu. Didn’t bother with
    the browser since I assumed like on the Bold it’s just a complete fail.
    I spent about 10-15 minutes on this piece of junk then I literally
    tossed it into the trash. I can see why they are shipping this crap out
    to people for free. I wouldn’t even consider paying for it.