BlackBerry PlayBook Price Drops: RIM Cuts Tablet's Price Tag To $199 For Holiday Buyers

On Monday, Research In Motion announced that it is slashing the price of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. For a limited time the device will be available for $199 at Best Buy, Wireless Giant, Staples, OfficeMax, Office Depot, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart.

The discounted price hadn't gone into effect when CNET reported the story on Monday, and as of this writing only Best Buy and Staples had rolled out the deal for a $199 16GB PlayBook on their websites. OfficeMax, Wal-Mart and Radio Shack were listing the PlayBook at the higher price, and Wireless Giant's website didn't have the PlayBook listed at all.

The price cut may be an attempt to compete with Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire, which is expected to sell 4 million units this quarter. According to The Huffington Post's Bianca Bosker, the Kindle Fire's success has "everything to do with its wallet-friendly pricetag." Though Amazon is selling the Fire for a price that lower than the cost of building the device, the retail online retail giant seems willing to take the loss if it means potentially selling a boatload of Kindle tablets.

Indeed, when HP liquidated its stock of TouchPads in August, the $99 tablet became a runaway best-seller and the second best-selling tablet in the U.S., according to a study by NPD Group. The PlayBook ranked sixth on that list, Tech Radar reports.

According to CNET, $199 PlayBooks recently hit Newegg.com for one weekend; they quickly sold out.

The PlayBook, which began selling in April for $499, didn't exactly take the tablet market by storm. In September, Reuters reported on rumors that the tablet was being killed. RIM shipped 500,000 units in the last six weeks of the first quarter, and only 200,000 in the whole second quarter. By contrast, Apple reported in April that it has sold 4.69 million iPads during its second quarter of 2011.

But even as analysts grumbled about the PlayBook's "failure," RIM co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie remained confident in their tablet, saying RIM would be profitable again by the third quarter.

Comments

[Josh Hogie]

01:42 PM on 01/10/2012

Whether it's gonna bad or not in Their marketing, RIM should do this as a logical business move. The prediction still quite far until last sale in February 4th, 2012. We just hope the best for You, RIM! http://www.itworldcom.com/prediction-over-playbook-price-cut

[MrVee]

09:19 PM on 11/23/2011

I had high hopes for the Playbook. I still dig it.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

09:17 PM on 11/23/2011

Not being an ipad is a huge detriment to any "tablet" device. There are several very good options out there. People are just no aware of them or avoiding them because they lack the Apple branding. Even devices that can do much more than the Apple devices and have more hardware options. It sucks because the lack of adoption hurts application availability.

[MrVee]

05:34 PM on 11/24/2011

That's the rub with Windows Phones too. Great platform, beautiful magazine interface, Metro design language, speedy, great battery life, integration with social media AND the ability to do MORE on a single core it takes android devices two or more cores to do. And with none of the force close, slow boot, mega malware infestation issues of android but carrier stores won't showcase it.

[bluguy8]

09:11 PM on 11/23/2011

its still a lot of money for a turkey

[ABLEARCHER]

04:46 PM on 11/23/2011

At $200 it sells well. Say all you want about crippled functionality and what the other tablets have to offer, but it sells out fast no matter what at this price. Proves over and over again - tablets have to be more realistically priced - under $300 and at $200 on average to be attractive (and to make sense comparing a $500 laptop with a $500 tablet makes me wonder why on Earth people spend their money on a device with 32 gigs of storage, no full USB, no full card card readers, etc, etc).

[thereisonlyoneparty]

09:15 PM on 11/23/2011

I spent slightly less than $500 on a device that has USB, HDMI, and a full size SD card slot.

I am very happy with it.  I do most of my internetting and various time wasting on it.

It suits my needs well.

"Tablet" "computers" are still really limited, but they do a lot very well.  Even the maligned HP Touchpad was a great little device (biggest problems are more with a lack of software than the hardware.)

I have no idea how anyone uses a laptop for internet browsing around the house.  I only use a computer to create media.  Consuming it is easier with a tablet.

[ABLEARCHER]

03:40 PM on 11/24/2011

Well, if you are OK with browsing in a 10'" screen and ready to pay almost $500 for the small form factor - by all means, a tablet will be great. Personally, i can barely live with a small 15" screen of my laptop and i turn to my 27" desktop screen whenever i can. I could use a tablet to show my photo port, but at this point i am not prepared to pay $500 for it. I do not need this that bad.

Honestly, I did check out Toshiba as a primary candidate for purchase due to all the functionality it provides. This particular tablet has only one let down for me - its screen. Most competitors i its price range have a better screen, but less connectivity :(

[highlyqualified]

12:54 PM on 11/23/2011

Well, this is the season for moving turkeys.

[neverwrong15]

11:00 AM on 11/23/2011

The Blackberry Playbook has potential. The new Blackberry London phone that has been confirmed for Q3 of 2012 will be Blackberry's last hope of competing with Android and Apple. If the playbook gets the updates they've been promising and the London is a hit Blackberry will be in good shape.

[ancientuno]

10:22 AM on 11/23/2011

Just remember, you get what you pay for.

[cport1]

09:55 AM on 11/23/2011

Nice try RIM.

[elicourey]

09:50 AM on 11/23/2011

Lowering the price doesn't change the fact that it's a BlackBerry PlayBook...

[Thomas River]

08:37 AM on 11/23/2011

$200 is probably cost for RIM. I would not expect any support or updates after the holidays. If you love RIM, and want a limited function tablet, it might be a good idea. If you think you can replace the OS, it might be a better idea. If you need a tablet for something other than curiosity, and just want it to work, it might be better to spend the extra $10-$20 and get a Samsung on sale.

[berrycuda]

08:16 AM on 11/23/2011

Good deal, but it runs an already useless operating system, so it's obsolete.

[Goose8]

06:48 AM on 11/23/2011

Pay ME $200 and I'll consider using it....

[Charismatron]

06:17 AM on 11/23/2011

This is a unique opportunity to watch how competition and demand shape the tablet market. There aren't many products that have this effect and I'm enjoying watching the whole thing play out.

[Peter Phan]

02:15 AM on 11/23/2011

Still don't want one. The Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet will basically kill the market for all non-iPad tablets.