Originally Posted by sandra

I think PlayBook might be quite a worthy device, good both for work and for pleasure, but I don't understand why they have opted for such a name. Actually, BlackBerry devices have always been intended mostly for the corporate market, so this name seems quite odd.

I think so also, I think Blackpad would have fit right into the Blackberry fold and given it instant name recognition.

The preview looks great. I've had many good experiences with BB.

I just analyzed the Web with my opinion analyzer about BlackBerry Playbook
See here
http://thewebabout.com/blackberryplaybookOpinions.html
Veeery positive acceptance for now...of course no hands on experience, so it is easy to be positive

And are people gonna write a lot of Apps for yet another OS? Especially when they are busy working on the Android version, etc.? And would those Apps pretty much run on all BBs, like most iPhone apps run on iPad?

Gonna be a slew of Tablets coming out soon. I would guess that Steve already has anticipated this...

I think this was less of a product launch and more a statement of intent - just RIM saying "please don't buy an iPad for Christmas - we'll have something for you really soon in 2011..."

Overall though, I'd say it's a pretty good move from RIM - it's a 7-incher so doesn't compare readily with iPad, it runs its own OS, so can't easily be compared to all those Android tablets that are going to slay the iPad, lol, it tethers to your 'Berry for connection when out and about so stops folks whining about needing an extra data plan, or presumably could be used as a stand-alone WiFi device. I too find the name odd - it was explained to me on another forum as a 'sporting metaphor' but I'm pretty sure that's overwhelmingly US interpretation that won't sit well in ROW.

The specs look good - though as always the two critical ones (battery life and price) appear to be missing. But the biggest concern with it is that it may not actually exist:-

Singularity Hacker: The BlackBerry PlayBook Doesn't Exist

The videos don't show an actual product, and no actual product was available hands-on to attendees at the 'launch'. There were 'products' behind plexiglass that ran a sequence of screens and videos, but these could just have been dumb monitors (albeit in a smart suit) playing a demo.

I have no doubt that RIM are serious about putting this into production, but all we've seen so far is a nicely turned-out mock-up and some nifty CGI.

Cheers, Pete.