PlayBook Giving RIM Big Pay Day?

Sales of the RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook appear to be exceedingly positive with some analysts estimating that the BlackBerry-maker has moved over 250,000 units of the debuting tablets in the first month of sales. Sales of the PlayBook now have surpassed Motorola’s sales of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb debut tablet, which sold the same number in five weeks of initial sales.

RIM may be benefiting from sales of the PlayBook, despite mixed early reviews, due to releasing the tablet initially with an inexpensive WiFi model–a model with embedded mobile broadband will be forthcoming and at least one carrier, Sprint, has signed on to deliver the PlayBook with 4G (WiMax model) in the U.S.

News of positive sales follow Best Buy‘s commentary on RIM’s debut tablet. The retailer stated that sales of the tablet had exceeded its own expectations.

The PlayBook, which uses the QNX-based OS with the BlackBerry Tablet OS layer on top, marks RIM’s push to make its BlackBerry OS more modern and consumer-friendly in the face of stiff competition from Android and iOS. The company initially gained fame in the enterprise sector and now must define its strategy in the light of evolving technology trends that are shaping what some are referring to as the ‘consumerization of IT,’ an era where enterprise employees are beginning to bring in consumer-centric devices to their IT departments and wanting them to work in secure environments. As a result of these trends, we’ve seen BlackBerry smartphones adopt rear (and soon front-facing) cameras, for example, and consumer features such as multimedia player and the ability to stream music and videos. As a result, RIM still is in the infancy of its strategy to appeal to more consumer demands, and the latest research note from Abramsky shows that smartphone sales are down in the U.S. and Latin America.

The report of the PlayBook’s sales comes from an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Critics have discounted the positive sales evaluation from RBC due to the fact that the COO of RBC also sits on RIM’s board.

Via: Computer World