Currys slashes PlayBook prices to £250
By Stewart Mitchell
Posted on 19 Oct 2011 at 15:52
Another tablet's price has been slashed, with Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook now £150 cheaper at one major retailer.
Currys and PC World have announced £150 off all models of the PlayBook, with the low end 16GB version dropping from £399.99 to £249.99.
“It looks like they need to get units moving, and it will be interesting to see if this is only PC World and Currys or comes from RIM,” said Geoff Blaber, director of devices and software platforms at analyst firm CSS insight.
What is becoming clear is that there is one market for the iPad and another for everything else, and that market is highly price sensitive and very small
According to Blaber, the price cut highlights the difficulty manufacturers trying to compete against Apple’s £399 iPad face in gaining market share at the same price point as the market-leading tablet.
“What is becoming clear is that there is one market for the iPad and another for everything else, and that market is highly price sensitive and very small,” said Blaber. “They need to get units moving and out of stores.”
Whether the move will be enough to increase demand remains to be seen, as manufacturers struggle to find a price point that makes tablets sufficiently attractive.
HP’s TouchPad fire sale, which saw prices cut to £89 proved there is a demand for low-priced tablets.
We are waiting to hear back from RIM as to whether the discount will extend to other retailers.
New OS hope
The price cuts come after RIM unveiled the next generation of its operating system – BBX, which is intended to combine its smartphone and tablet OSes.
The PlayBook's OS is based on the QNX system acquired by the company last year, while the BlackBerry OS powers smartphones.
RIM said the BlackBerry BBX OS “takes the best of the BlackBerry platform and the best of the QNX platform to connect people, devices, content and services”.
The company said the BBX platform would include BBX-OS, and support BlackBerry cloud services and development environments for both HTML5 and native app developers.
From around the web
Bargain?
"HP’s TouchPad fire sale, which saw prices cut to £89 proved there is a demand for low-priced tablets."
Yeah, and at £250 this ain't a low-priced tablet.
By Steve_Adey on 19 Oct 2011 
Bargain?
"HP’s TouchPad fire sale, which saw prices cut to £89 proved there is a demand for low-priced tablets."
Yeah, and at £250 this ain't a low-priced tablet.
By Steve_Adey on 19 Oct 2011
Hopefully not just currys drop the price
Contract is up in a few months, will be interesting to see if places like carphonewarehouse drop the price of their blackberry/playbook deals.
By JamesD29 on 19 Oct 2011
Better price
but still more than I'd pay for a 7" tablet - *Maybe* if it was 10", with 3G, However, that's still towards the top end for a tablet, IMO.
Apple might get away with £400+ but people are willing to pay extra for Apple.
I'm not, but then, I'm not an Apple customer
By greemble on 19 Oct 2011
Wrong Picture?
That playbook looks mmore like a touchpad to me.
By JStairmand on 19 Oct 2011
Waiting to hear back from RIM?
Why? A quick Google would show you that they already dropped the price $200 in Canada weeks ago.
They're trying to boost interest in a tablet people haven't been that interested in.
By lmathews on 19 Oct 2011
Touchpad
you know i did buy a HP touch pad not for £89 but less than £200 and you know what, i like it does what you need from a tablet
WebOs is quick slick i would say as good as Apple in most areas
and the 500,000 apps on apple store ? well i dont miss them
By Sapper979 on 20 Oct 2011
Picture
Good spot - thanks, JStairmand
By SMitchell on 20 Oct 2011
Decisions - Decisions
If you are a Blackberry user and have been thinking about getting a tablet then this is now almost a no-brainer.
If you're not into platforms and want to store music and photos and browse the web - it's also just about the best device at the price.
But if you want a future it's a different story - what are the big things happening for PlayBook?
By milliganp on 20 Oct 2011
Android
But can you put Android on it (like the HP TouchPad) and reduce the dependency on linking/tethering to a Blackberry smartphone?
By davefaulkner on 20 Oct 2011
"£89 proved there is a demand for low-priced tablets"
Plenty of low priced tablets around, but with low quality to match.
The Touchpad was sold at well below the cost of manufacture and is a high quality piece of kit. The Ekens and Advent Vegas of this world aren't really capable of taking up the slack.
By Lacrobat on 20 Oct 2011
no one pointed out.....
There is two new tablets just about to be brought to market from BB.
Thus could this be selling off old stock before the new one get here?
Mark
By mprltd on 20 Oct 2011
With the glut of new tablets waiting in the wings no wonder these are being offloaded
Galaxy 7.7, Transformer Optimus, etc.
By TheHonestTruth on 20 Oct 2011
Android
But can you put Android on it (like the HP TouchPad) and reduce the dependency on linking/tethering to a Blackberry smartphone?
By davefaulkner on 20 Oct 2011
Android
But can you put Android on it (like the HP TouchPad) and reduce the dependency on linking/tethering to a Blackberry smartphone?
By davefaulkner on 20 Oct 2011
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