PlayBook Touted For Summer Release On 4G Network

Clint Boulton eWEEK USA 2012. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved,

The BlackBerry PlayBook is now expected to arrive in the summer, on the 4G WiMax network of Sprint

Research In Motion has selected the American operator Sprint to launch its eagerly awaited PlayBook tablet during the summer.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is RIM’s answer to the Apple iPad and Android-based tablets which proved to be so popular in 2010, and it will feature the new Blackberry Tablet OS based on QNX software.

The 7-inch-display device, which the companies are marketing as a “professional-grade tablet,” will be powered by a 1GHZ dual core processor and sport 1GB of RAM. Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile Air and HTML5 applications will all be supported.

WiMax Compatible

For the PlayBook, RIM pledges tight integration with its Blackberry smartphones, as well as the company’s proven enterprise security and mobile device management.

Though the PlayBook will include WiFi connectivity, Sprint said in a press statement the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook will be the first BlackBerry PlayBook model to include wide area wireless connectivity.

The wireless carrier, whose 4G network currently spans 71 markets in the United States, claimed this will give customers download speeds as much as 10 times faster than today’s typical 3G networks.

Sprint said it will reveal pricing and launch date details later this year.

RIM, which showed off the device in earnest for the first time at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show 5 January, has had to defend its PlayBook and its corresponding strategy from negative press.

Launch Delay

After fending off reports that the PlayBook suffered from poor battery life (3 hours compared to 10 for iPad and 6 for the Samsung Galaxy Tab), RIM published a blog post and video to tout the tablet.

The PlayBook has also suffered some delays. Analysts originally expected the device to land on shelves in the first quarter this year.

RIM is now aiming for a summer launch with Sprint for the tablet.

That will certainly come long after Motorola’s forthcoming Xoom and perhaps dozens of other Android-based tablets launching this winter and spring, and likely after the iPad 2 arrives.