There is no doubt that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has been an unmitigated disaster for the Canadian company. Estimates suggest the PlayBook has swallowed $1.5 billion of cash contributing at most just 2 per cent of RIM’s revenue and putting the compnay in a rather precarious financial position.
However, for those few people who did buy a PlayBook, the company has finally rolled out a software update to the beleaguered tablet in the form of PlayBook OS 2.0, which brings with it some major improvements in terms of email, social integration and the addition of Android apps which will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook.
The updated software finally brings a native email client to the PlayBook, featuring a unified inbox, tabs and a rich text editor. As well as the new email client, there will be more social integration with the calendar and contacts apps, with contact cards being dynamically populated with information from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
RIM has said that thousands of new apps have been added to the BlackBerry App World today thanks to BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps which allows developers to quickly and easily port Android apps to the PlayBook. This, more than any other addition, could be the feature which gives the PlayBook a lot more appeal.
RIM has also updated the BlackBerry Bridge app which now lets you use your BlackBerry smartphone as a wireless keyboard and mouse for the PlayBook.
While these additions are welcome, most should really have been present from launch and bringing them to the platform a year late might be just too little too late. However, with the tablet now on sale for £169 combined with the updated software, could we be set to see an upturn in the PlayBook’s fortunes? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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