BlackBerry PlayBook will be $200 on Black Friday

If for some odd reason, you’ve been considering the BlackBerry PlayBook but couldn’t pull the trigger just yet, you may as well wait until next week because Staples will be offering Research In Motion’s first tablet for $199 during its Black Friday sale.

That $200 will get you the 16 GB BlackBerry PlayBook with 7-inch screen and QNX software. Released earlier this year, the tablet has failed to really gain traction – I wouldn’t outright call it a flop but it clearly hasn’t performed up to RIM’s expectations. This sale may be equal parts giving users a good deal and also clearing out inventory.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a relatively powerful and capable tablet that has an interesting gesture-based user interface. The hardware itself is pretty sleek and well put together and the 7-inch form factor makes it quite portable. On the downside, the app ecosystem is pretty lame and it still lacks a native e-mail client, although that should be coming in February. Of course, for $200, you can forgive a lot of flaws.

It should be a nice holiday season if you want a high-quality tablet for not that much money, as the much-vaunted Amazon Kindle Fire is also available for about $200. We reviewed it here and it’s a quality way to consume media and browse the web on the go. What would you rather have for $200, the BlackBerry PlayBook or the Kindle Fire?

[Via CBSNews]