RIM is walking a fine line with the BlackBerry PlayBook. Its like they cannot decide if it is a consumer or enterprise device. This just got a bit more interesting when I was reading @BonnieCNET tweets covering a Q&A panel with RIM @ CTIA. WSJ’s Walt Mossberg asked why RIM is launching a tablet that needs a BlackBerry to get your email and calendar. RIM’s response is the most interesting part.
According to Bonnie RIM said that the BlackBerry PlayBook will be getting a native email client in the “coming months” but it was originally designed with BES customers in mind. I can understand that BES customers are important to RIM but just look how they have been showing off the PlayBook. Front and center is gaming, web browsing, video, and other consumer focused features. On the other hand the only enterprise ready part of the tablet is the BlackBerry Bridge which in and of itself I hear only has one IT policy at launch (Bridge on/off).
So the thing I have to ask RIM. How hard would it be for you to write an email, calendar, etc client? I don’t think this is a deal breaker since I simply plan on using the Gmail website in the browser but still. Now that RIM has realized they are targeting the consumer market I am hoping we will see a PIM client very soon. I am not against the concept of the Bridge but why give the haters such an easy target?
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