BlackBerry PlayBook To Be Competitively Priced

We've heard about RIM's new BlackBerry PlayBook, but until now, we haven't known the price. In a recent interview, Jim Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research in Motion said the company plans to price the BlackBerry PlayBook "competitively" and will offer a price tag that's under $500. RIM's 7-inch PlayBook tablet is set to arrive in the first quarter of 2011 in North America. It will launch globally in the second quarter.

As you may recall from previous reports, the PlayBook runs BlackBerry Tablet OS and features a 1GHz dual-core processor along with 1GB RAM. Its 7-inch LCD will support a resolution of 1024 x 600 and will be a capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support. It will have dual cameras and will support various multimedia formats.

On paper, the PlayBook certainly looks like it could be a worthy competitor to Apple's popular iPad. But given that Apple has a significant head start in the tablet market and considering the fact that many other manufacturers plan to release tablets running Android by the time the PlayBook becomes available, it's safe to say RIM's entry to the market won't be without some stiff competition.