It has been almost a full week since RIM announced their newest product: The Blackberry Playbook. Since this announcement, much has been made over what the new entrant’s role is in the tablet market. Instant comparisons have been made to market incumbents like the Dell Streak, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and (especially) the Apple iPad.
What RIM brings in light of their late arrival to the party is a bag full of features the iPad lacks. Ability to support both Adobe’s Flash (a common technology to many websites, also a technology Apple has loudly foregone), front facing camera for web-conferencing and the hardware required for heavy multitasking (including four times as much RAM – random access memory – as Apple’s tablet). RIM believes that the device’s increased online flexibility, ability to handle many programs at a time and inherent ability to connect video feeds with other devices will appeal to potential consumers – especially those in the business class.
Given this, how concerned should Apple be about losing market share to their traditional tech rival (Blackberry and the iPhone have waged war in the cellular phone market for years)? The answer lies in how large the market will expand. Apple shouldn’t fear losing current iPad owners, who are almost universally pleased with their purchases, but the competition’s feature-packed offerings may draw future tablet buyers. The kicker here is the fact that most people who would consider purchasing such a device have already bought iPads, and with the next generation iPad, competitive features will conceivably be added by the time the Playbook enters the market.
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