Sad Rumour: The BlackBerry PlayBook Might Be Dead

A chip analyst for Collins Stewart, John Vinh, believes that RIM “has stopped production of its PlayBook and is actively considering exiting the tablet market.” Why? According to his research, the PlayBook’s manufacturer, Quanta, has “essentially halted production of the tablet”.

Update: RIM’s official statement on the matter:

RIM doesn’t typically comment on rumors, but any suggestion that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued is pure fiction. RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market.

It seems kind of crazy that RIM would kill the PlayBook, since the QNX software is essentially the future of the company, and just the other day, RIM was telling us how “the upcoming software upgrade, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, will help to generate an increase in demand and sell through of the BlackBerry PlayBook over the upcoming months.”

What is most definitely true is that retailers are trying to dump PlayBooks at cut-rate prices: In the US, Best Buy’s knocked $US200 off every model, and they’re not the only ones.

Fortunately for Quanta, even if this is the case, it can at least use all of that expertise to build millions and millions of Kindle Fires for Amazon. [Barrons]


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