Research in Motion’s first stab at a tablet device, the BlackBerry PlayBook, isn’t really doing all that well. The hardware is pretty good, but, the software has been weighed, measured, and found wanting. We’ve seen pricing on the PlayBook drop 40% to 50% and even more in some cases, and, although RIM is calling the decrease in price special discounting to improve sell through (it’s all semantics as far as consumers are concerned), the PlayBook today will cost you significantly less than it did a couple of weeks ago.
The question for RIM, however, is has the pricing on the BlackBerry PlayBook been discounted enough now that the Kindle Fire, Amazon’s new Android Tablet has been introduced with a $199 price point.
I’d love to hear your take. Leave us a comment and let us know if you think the Kindle Fire will force RIM to discount the BlackBerry PlayBook more than it already has…
Yes it has, I bought two Playbooks yesterday, but after a test drive, I’m returning them and I have already ordered two Kindle Fires. RIM needs to get a clue, they missed it. It’s not worth $500. Maybe $150.00. I have an iPad, but I want the Amazon tablet to stick around for diversity and more choices.
I think they need to get it down to about $249. It does have duel cameras and a mic, but, the lack of applications is a huge problem for RIM. You are going to start to see other Android tablets drop in price as well, and, they will also have the advantage of better apps.
I bought the PlayBook a week after it came out and I really want the device to do well, but, the only thing I think that RIM can do is aggressively drop the price and hope that they can move enough PlayBooks to make more developers want to create apps.
No, this really isn’t going to force RIM to drop prices any lower. The hardware is worth $299. RIM’s problem isn’t price, it’s apps, ecosystem, developer enthusiasm, management, etc., etc., etc.
Dropping the price would only temporarily mask all the other issues that the BlackBerry PlayBook has…
It’s not going to force them to, but, they probably should.
RIM probably could see a huge pop in sales if they put slash prices of the playbook down under $250. The fire won’t be here for 7 weeks…
I think that apps and features are their biggest issue. I think they need to release Tablet OS v2 with Android player asap!
I agree with @16f9b014de9f1d5ee756e5cd3a6c4e6f:disqus that the $199 price is a psychology win. RIM, like Apple, is a hardware company thus they cannot sell hardware at a loss. Amazon is a retail, cloud, music, movie, and the list goes on type of company.
RIM needs to do something creative between now and the launch of the Kindle Fire to increase sales and distribution. We won’t know Kindle Fire sales for 4 months but RIM cannot afford to be #4 this early in the game.
There is something to say about 1.99, 4.99, or 9.99 pricing being less than $2 $5, and $10 respectively. There is a psychology in pricing merchandise and while the difference from 199 to 249 is actually small psychologically is massive.
I studied this in school and that is why Apple prices the way they. Amazon can sell the tablet at a loss as the AppStore, VOD, Books, Audiobooks, and normal purchases will make up for the minor loss. RIM does not have the same echo system behind them.
This pricing will impact the iPad market share and will impact RIM. At $200 the addressable market balloons. Consider the HP Touchpad fire sale demand. If $200 makes tablets affordable for another 200 million people (random number) those are potential Amazon customers as the iPad is 2.5x more expensive.
This is a massive shift.
Sorry about the formatting characters I copied and pasted from word. No clue how that happened
Everyone who works for RIM should be polishing their resume and chatting with headhunters.