BlackBerry PlayBook To Receive BlackBerry 10 Update

Thorsten Heins, CEO of BlackBerry, has confirmed that the company is working on a software update that will bring the newly-launched BlackBerry 10 to the BlackBerry PlayBook.

The PlayBook was launched in 2011 and received a software update as recently as October. BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 added the ability to extend the tablet’s encryption to personal data, the ability to disable developer mode and easier deployment of the BlackBerry Mobile Fusion mobile device management system.

BlackBerry 10 adds a number of new security and administration features, multi-tasking tools and BlackBerry Balance, which allows users to seamlessly switch between work and personal profiles.

BlackBerry PlayBook update

Speaking after the launch of BlackBerry 10, Heins was a bit more guarded about the company’s future tablet strategy, noting it is trying to find a way to combine software and services, as it has done with its smartphones.

“We are looking for specific value-added services on top of the tablet,” Heins is reported to have said, claiming that selling tablets alone was a tough way to make money in the current market.

Apple currently dominates the market with the iPad, but has seen its stranglehold challenged by the advent of smaller, cheaper tablets with lower profit margins and costs recouped through the sale of digital content.

The touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 and keyboard-based BlackBerry Q10 were unveiled at yesterday’s launch event in New York, the company’s first smartphones to run BlackBerry 10. The Z10 is available in the UK from today but Heins has confirmed that the Q10 should be released by April.

The launch of the platform is seen as vital to BlackBerry’s chance of a recovery after seeing its share of the smartphone market eroded by rivals like Apple and Samsung. BlackBerry has not revealed sales targets but added that it hopes to become the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

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