Blackberry surprised many (but the faithful) in announcing its tablet this week at its developer conference - a move which has similar ramifications for travellers as the iPad.
Called the Blackberry Playbook, it is a seven-inch device that comes with built in wifi and 16 or 32 GB versions of storage with full add ons.
Interestingly it doesn’t seem to come as a standalone device for access to 3G networks to start.
Much like Apple, the wifi versions will appear first. However you will be able to pair it with a regular Blackberry device for external communication. [NB: full spec].
That may sound a little like over complicating it but I believe its actually quite a smart thing to do when you consider RIM’s core franchise is the company man. Therefore enabling it as a companion device keeps the controls in place without upsetting the balance of the universe.
By coming out with a smaller device Blackberry has pre-empted (a bit) the upcoming iPad Nano, or what ever they will call the smaller iPad.
So how did Blackberry do it so quickly? Well quite simply they bought an old operating system company called QNX.
I used QNX, a Unix-like multi-tasking OS, way back in the 1980s. It was very cool then, but adopted some weird partners and as a result never reached the dizzy heights of SCO or Microsoft in the OS stakes.
So recently they had an embedded OS that allowed for machines to run advanced type multi-tasking apps for machines. This so called real time OS is essential for machines with little or no storage capability.
The travelling exec is going to love the extra screen without having to compromise with an enterprise unfriendly iPad.
Almost everyone I have spoken to who are early adopters of the iPad waited for the 3G version.
However many telcos are still struggling with the new micro 3G sim cards. I met some folks last week who bravely sliced their 3G sims down to the size and manage now to make the iPad work on their local networks. It's scary but it can be done.
So, no specific release date, except some time 2011. I may have to hold out till after Christmas to see if a tablet is really in my future.
I really do like tablets… but after struggling for three years with the XP version of the tablet OS from Microsoft, I gave up and went back to regular PCs.