BlackBerry PlayBook

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook ( hit the link for an overview ) has been a lot in the news recently and that’s partly because of a certain amount of unrest surrounding the product. Considering that the company’s marketing director will be stepping down from his position, I would say that it’s understandable that the company is facing certain issues at the moment. Despite that, during a recent UK event, Steven Bates, a RIM representative that was showing off the BlackBerry PlayBook stated that the company is still aiming for a March US BlackBerry PlayBook release date.

Although there were rumors of the BlackBerry Playbook not reaching us by the end of March ( even an April 10th BlackBerry PlayBook release date has been recently rumored ), it seems that we will be getting it this month after all. For users in Europe the BlackBerry PlayBook will be released sometime in Q2 with the UK being among the first countries in Europe to get it.

RIM: BlackBerry PlayBook US Release Date This Month, UK to get it in Q2

BlackBerry’s PlayBook is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 dual-core processor clocked at 1 GHz per core, 1 GB of RAM. It sports a 7 inch display with a resolution of 1024 by 600 and on the connectivity front it will come with Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, 3G and Bluetooth with GPS support.

Multimedia wise, the users of the BlackBerry PlayBook can rejoice as the tablet will come with two cameras, a 3 megapixel front-facing camera and a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, all of this surrounding a QNX-based OS. Their claims are that the operating system running on the BlackBerry PlayBook is highly customized for graphics, multitasking and of course stability, but then again, that’s what everyone claims.

The reason for which this was a major concern amongst RIM and BlackBerry users was mainly due to the fact that the iPad 2 got announced just recently and with the Motorola XOOM also being around for a “bloody” tablet war, the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook might have missed its golden opportunity to snag some of those sales figures. Considering that it was probably the first tablet announced from the three, it’s easy to see why everyone is slowly but surely getting impatient.

All in all, if they do manage to set it up with some competitive pricing I would say that it’s got a solid chance against the two tablet monsters currently battling it out for supremacy.

Keep your eyes out for this one as the BlackBerry PlayBook release date is scheduled for this month in the US and for Q2 in Europe with UK being amongst the first on the list. Stay tuned for more!