16 GB BlackBerry PlayBook Priced at $499 at Office Depot

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is starting to wriggle its way into retail channels for a late March launch. One such store, Office Depot, has it listed internally for $499 for the 16 GB model, which confirms earlier rumours of that price point. Other denominations of memory will cost $399 and $599, according to separate rumours. That puts it directly on par with iPad pricing at the basic level, which might not be so great if an iPad 2 is around the corner and the original gets a price slash. On top of that, the requirement to Bridge to get e-mail and other PIM apps might be a deal-breaker at higher price points, nevermind the smaller screen size.

The BlackBerry PlayBook will be RIM’s first tablet, boasting a brand new operating system that excels at multimedia, stability, and multitasking. It’s got a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 7-inch 1024 x 600 display, Wi-Fi, with 3G when tethered to a BlackBerry smartphone. Take a look at our hands-on experience with the PlayBook to get the full tour.

Honestly, I’m not sure I could justify spending $499 on what some have boldly called “an expensive web browser“. Without any expandable memory or reasonable standalone applications, combined with the fact that I just got a netbook (for only $275, mind you), there’s really no reason to grab a PlayBook. Other seven-inch tablets running Android can work just fine on their own, and can cost as low as $269. I’m sure the price will go down in time, but given the competition and the device’s limitations, I think the PlayBook will need to be cheaper at launch.

[via CB]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

Anonymous

This still leaves room for an 8-GB version that costs $399 and that’s getting very tempting for me. The lack of native e-mail client and browser seem insane to me but I’m desperately hoping that a Gmail app is out the first day and third-parties could fill in the calendar part.

From what I’ve seen of both, the PlayBook OS looked snappier than webOS on the TouchPad. Not a super fair comparison because the TouchPad is still probably 5 months away but jusssayin’
Jimbo1

Well, there is a WiFi only iPad, so how is that different than the PlayBook? Its not. Besides the PlayBook 4G will be released right after and doesn’t need to be tethered.
Anonymous

you understand that it is as powerful as a netbook as it plays 1080p video flawlessly, does real mutli-tasking, high res screen, got full web fidelity and runs longer than a netbook (8 hours) without heating up your lap, also it is uber-portable that replaces your music-player, e-reader, portable dvd player, a flip camcorder as it records 1080p video. $499 is highly justified IMHO.
http://www.myvouchercodes.co.uk/ evoucher

Why are these companies selling their products for the same price as the iPad? it only has a 7″ screen where as the iPad has almost a 10″ screen and $500 is too much for this android tablet.
http://www.intomobile.com/ Simon Sage

It would be as powerful as a netbook if it had decent app selection, but from what we’ve seen of the stuff coming into App World, it looks like devs are doing the bare minimum to get freebies. The multimedia capabilities are pretty good, and the battery life is better, you’re right, but I already use my Torch for music, pictures, and video recording, and the netbook can view video and multitask just dandy. Until the price goes down and native, RIM-made PIM apps are available standalone, I still can’t see how the PlayBook can reasonably exist between my phone and netbook.
http://www.intomobile.com/ Simon Sage

Has RIM actually confirmed an 8 GB version? The only denominations they’ve nailed down for sure are 16, 32, and 64; the 8 GB was just a rumour. If it does become available, I’d be happy to spend some money on the basic model, if only for the browser and to see what QNX apps become available.