RIM has made public its plans for adding HSPA+ and LTE capability to its PlayBook tablet. The company confirmed that, in addition to its existing Wi-Fi-enabled tablet, it would shortly launch a dual Wi-Fi/WiMAX version, and then during the second half of 2011 PlayBooks supporting Wi-Fi/HSPA+ and Wi-Fi/LTE.
The company’s MD for EMEA, Patrick Spence, told Show Daily that the PlayBook was a leap in innovation. “The PlayBook has a dual-core processor that enables it to run a multi-threaded and multi-tasking OS, together with support for Flash, HTML5 and open internet standards.”
“We’re calling the PlayBook the first professional tablet for people that want to get things done.”
Spence claims that many of the tablets available today are very consumption-oriented. “Whereas the PlayBook can be used to create content and allow users to access email within the enterprise.
It can also serve as a companion device so that business people don’t need to carry a laptop to remain productive.”
The company said that the PlayBook can support applications such as WP, email, spreadsheet and Powerpoint and effectively replace laptops used by many corporate users. RIM maintained that it had already seen a high level of interest from enterprise customers to replace existing laptops with PlayBooks.
“We think we’ve got a simple proposition with a connection to the Blackberry handset, with the PlayBook’s bigger screen allowing better composition and editing,” said Spence. “This will make the PlayBook more useful than the basic functionality that comes with other tablets.”
While not wishing to release the price of the PlayBook, other than it being competitive, Spence confirmed that the Wi-Fi version would be shipping this quarter in the US, and then becoming available in other markets from the second quarter. The Wi-Fi/WiMAX model will be offered in the US by Sprint starting this summer.
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