It appears that the new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet PC is going to be the future of Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) portable tech business in more ways than one. In the short term, the tablet is going to define the company’s efforts in 2011. Expected to be release during the first quarter of 2011, the PlayBook is positioned to unite the disparate branches of Research in Motion’s business into one package.
The tablet will mark Research in Motion’s bid to recapture the enterprise market once dominated by the company’s smartphones, but that has since begun favoring products from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).
The BlackBerry Tablet operating system, a new software platform developed by recent Research in Motion acquisition QNX Software Industries, will be bolstered by new BlackBerry WebWorks development tools. These will allow app developers to build software for both the PlayBook and BlackBerry smartphones simultaneously, without needing to cater to both the Tablet OS and the smartphone-based BlackBerry 6 operating system. It’s in that drive, however, that investors can get a glimpse in RIM’s long term plans—the BlackBerry tablet may just signify the end of the BlackBerry smartphone.
Speaking at the “D: Dive Into Mobile” event this week, Research in Motion CEO Mike Lazaridis shed new light on the PlayBook’s functionality, the device’s launch window, and what it means to Research in Motion’s future business. Sitting down with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of tech blog All Things Digital, Lazaridis said that RIM’s goal with BlackBerry products has always been to “do real mobile computing.” When pressed to expand on what the mobile computing power of the PlayBook meant for the BlackBerry phone line, Lazaridis played coy. Mossberg specifically asked if Lazaridis was suggesting RIM would “essentially stop paying as much attention to improving BlackBerry phones, and put next generation tech into tablets,” and Lazaridis responded that RIM is going to stop “trying to be all things to all people.”
Later, Lazaridis did say that the smartphone OS BlackBerry 6 “really is the foundation of us going forward on the BlackBerry,” but that contrasted with earlier statements suggesting Research in Motion, with the release of PlayBook, is shifting away from making phones the center of its business. Lazaridis continued that RIM’s aim is to control “three distinct market areas” with phones, superphones, and tablets. However, if the purpose of the tablet is to make mobile computing a one-device service, it would seem that the PlayBook and Tablet OS will be the core of that business.
Redefining their company as a tablet business could, ultimately, help RIM survive once Apple and Google have completely eclipsed its phone business. The IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report published at the end of October found that Apple had surpassed RIM as the world’s fourth leading mobile phone manufacturer, meaning the RIM now trails Apple, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung, and LG Electronics.
The tablet market, however, remains an open playing field, where Google has yet to establish itself and Apple is enjoying significant but uncontested success. By winding down the BlackBerry phone line, making what remains low-tech and affordable consumer products, and focusing on a range of tablet devices (including tablets with voice chat capabilities), Research in Motion could distinguish itself from competitors and recapture its identity as a high-tech leader.
The PlayBook will initially be comparably priced to high-end tablets like the iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. According to a report from ZDNet, there will be three PlayBook models released during Q1 2011, including 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models. That follows Lazaridis comments from earlier this fall that the device will retail “under $500” suggesting that the 16GB device will retail for $499, just like the iPad.
As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
