Playbook Price Drop - $99 - Staples

[lindsbeth112984]

Price drop on the Blackberry Playbook tablets at Staples..

$99 - 16GB.
$118 - 32GB.
$219 - 64GB.

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...berry+playbook

[mulock]

So tempting but I am more focused on a new Samsung Galaxy phone.

[FallenPixels]

They really are dropping them down in price!

[vesper]

Wow! I think I will sell my RIM stocks and use some of that cash to buy one of these incredible margins!

Must mean the company is boot lipping badly.

[bhlombardy]

My mother just got a free BB Playbook as part of a promotion for renewing her newspaper subscription (a current promotional offer by Brunswick News in NB). I'm in the process of setting it up for her, and I am less than impressed. Even though it's "only" $99 at Staples (sold out, BTW), it doesn't do much.

The pre-installed apps are pretty pointless so off the bat you're going to be looking for apps online. Through BB App World, the apps for the most part are far more expensive than the same apps on Android... if they even EXIST on BB App World. -- For example, Angry Birds is $5 for each version (so you're paying close to $20 if you want all four)... where they're either free (ad supported) or 99 cents (ad-free) on Android.

And there is a misconception that you can access Google Play (formerly the Android Market) on a BB device. This is not entirely true. The hype that was made several months ago led users to believe that they'd be accessing any Android apps through Google Play. All that's been done is that some Android apps have been "officially" converted and are provided on the BB App World. They run via a built in handler on the Playbook (introuced in firmware v2.0). But they are simply present in the BB App World - making it easier for the customer to get access to some *select* Android apps, but not gaining access to the vast catalog that's available to Android users. The Android app selection is not evident... which apps were converted and which are native BB apps is transparent. But I can't get simple things like the Amazon Kindle App... Google Maps... Yellow Pages... some of my favourite weather apps...

As a matter of fact, even apps that are available to most BB Smartphone users, I'm talking native BB Apps (not Android ported) aren't even available on the Playbook. (all of the above mentioned apps ARE available on BB Smartphones, just not the Playbook.)

Spenind $99 on a Playbook is a waste of money in my humble opinion. For $99, I'd put that money toward a budget Android tablet, like the Nexus 7 or Galaxy 2 (~$250, or $199 on sale) which beats the Playbook on performance and practicality (hands down)... and maybe toward something more expensive (Like Asus, Sony, Samsung, etc) if you're looking for a larger screen, or top performer.


EDIT: After this post, I sold it for $100... less than 24 hours after receiving it.

[bdwilliams]

I purchased the one from HP a few months back when they we're selling it for $99 and I sold it within a month. Anything that isn't made by Apple or Android based is just junk.