Guess there won’t be a BlackBerry tablet

Posted by | 05/27/2009 | 2 Comments

At All Things Digital, Walt Mossberg broached the topic of tablets with Jim Lazaridis, the CEO of RIM, maker of the BlackBerry. Not encouraging.

Thoughts about tablet computers? Lazaridis doesn’t seem interested. He notes that we’ve seen offshoot products like these before. ““Offshoot products trying to fill gaps that maybe don’t need to be filled.” Yes, a tablet is a cool concept, but can you put it in your pocket? And would you want one if you couldn’t?

Not that I was expecting a tablet from RIM, but still, it would be  nice to have the option. Anyway, I disagree about the gap needing to be filled (I don’t know how I tolerated computing without mine), but the pocket argument is hard to dispute.

Via Gizmodo

Tags: , ,

Category: Mobile

About the Author (Author Profile)

My name is Mark Sumimoto; I am Sumocat. I dabble in all areas of mobile computing, but my focus is Windows-based Tablet PCs and pen input. They’ve been part of my arsenal since 2004, and I’m proud to have pioneered the field of ink blogging, earning a spot as a Microsoft MVP for Touch and Tablets in the process. My current tools include a Fujitsu Lifebook T900, TEGA v2, and iPhone 4. Email me: sumocat [at] notebooks.com
  • http://www.segal.org/tablet/ Mickey Segal

    It is just a matter of having the right size pockets for a small tablet, as in a sport jacket. And women already carry purses, which could hold small tablets.

  • Dave P

    As I sit outside smoking my cigar, sipping my coffee, and reading my feeds, I have to say that I wouldn’t be doing this if my OQO didn’t fit in my front pants pocket. The 5x3x1 inch form factor is a marvelous size for ubiquitous computing.

    IMHO, what has set handheld tablets back is their cost and their CPUs (because of power drain and heat build-up). The new crop of MIDs seems to be solving these problems and I have high hopes that vectoring in touch screens can be resolved by better multitouch software.

    Ultimately, I think the pen and paper paradigm of tablets will be successful.

«
»