RIM Going to Launch Playbook 4G LTE

By Thea Neuman (Google)

If you’ve been waiting for the Blackberry Playbook, we have some good news for you. Your wait has finally come to an end, as RIM’s Playbook will soon be in the market as a 4G model.

This new tablet will be launched on July 31^st in Canada via Bell, and there might be some other Canadian carriers as well. As cited in an inside document of Bell, there are rumors that this tablet will cost $549.95. Since this is just a rumor, the exact cost is not known.

The document revealed some specs, which are: 1GB RAM, 1.5 GHz dual core processor, 1024 X 600 pixel and 7 inch display, along with 32 GB storage. Well the specs are pretty great, but will it make an impact?

The tablet will be running BB OS 2.0 and have a rear camera of 5 megapixels with a capacity of recording 1080 p videos. Its front camera will be 3 megapixels and the tablet will support 4G LTE along with HSPA+. With that camera configuration, now Playbook users can have online conferencing at high resolution.

RIM fans would know that the 4G Playbook had been in development for quite long, but it didn’t made to the market till now. Finally after much struggle, the Playbook has been able to hit the stands. Tablets were first announced by RIM in 2011 at the Mobile World Congress. At that time, Sprint planned to introduce the 4G Playbook via the WiMax network. But RIM and Sprint later dropped that plan because RIM focused its attention on LTE.

As of now, no RIM spokesperson was available for a comment on this story. If these rumors are true, there is one major question. Will consumers welcome the new Playbook? Though Playbooks have never really been successful in the market, 4G LTE might make a difference.

While Playbook wasn’t a big success earlier, now the competition has only toughened, particularly among the 7 inch tablets. There is Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire that are seeing huge market demand. And then there are rumors of the new iPad Mini that might be launched later in 2012 (maybe around Christmas).

Nexus 7 and Fire are just Wi-Fi only devices, so they are a step behind the new Playbook in features. This makes them targeted towards a different kind of consumer base, which is the budget conscious customer. But the iPad Mini might be a big challenge. Since not a lot is known about this tablet, we don’t know if it will support 4G or not. If it does support 4G, it will be a big challenge for Playbook.

RIM has made the new Playbook mainly for corporate customers, but the tablet failed to impress customers even when RIM cut back the prices in September 2011. Because Playbook couldn’t make an impact initially, chances are that it might not be a huge success this time either. While RIM has rivals like Google, Apple, and Amazon, the company is hard pressed to launch features to interest buyers into this new tablet. Will the Playbook be a success this time over? Let’s wait and watch.