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RIM's BlackPad tablet to be built by Quanta for $500?

updated 10:35 am EDT, Mon August 9, 2010

BlackPad due in November, to be built by Quanta


The upcoming BlackPad tablet from RIM will purportedly be manufactured by Taiwan's Quanta Computer. Digitimes reports that the device will be powered by Android, though this is unlikely as RIM has always used its proprietary operating systems. The report also has the tablet launching as early as November, or earlier than originally anticipated.

The device is so far thought to have a 9.7-inch touchscreen, built-in Wi-Fi and a Bluetooth connection, through which it will be able to connect to smartphones and their 3G data connections. Orders would ship in September, with the device priced at $500. RIM is said to be producing two million units in 2010 and eight million next year.

The smartphone maker is widely understood to have developed the BlackPad as a quick response to the iPad and may have stepped up its release schedule to the fall after originally targeting early 2011.


By Electronista Staff

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TAGS :  

industry, gadgets, Android, BlackBerry, Quanta, iPad, BlackPad

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Previous Comments

  1. dpicardi

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Sep 2006

    +1
    08/09, 11:38am | report spam | reply

    Makes absolutely no sense.

    Why would RIM use android? Basically promoting a competitor and receive no revenue for it. Tablets augment an app store and the revenue to the app store owner. If this is true RIM is in more dire straits than we realized.


  1. iphonerulez

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2008

    +1
    08/09, 11:50am | report spam | reply

    I'd like to know where RIM is going

    to get displays from for the BlackPad. Apple can't get 9.7 inch displays and RIM can? I find that hard to believe. RIM is going to have to do better than just selling it for $500. The BlackPad had better have to come with an awful lot of extras to compete against Apple at that price point especially if only a few apps are available for it.


  1. cmoney

    Mac Enthusiast

    Joined: Sep 2000

    +1
    08/09, 12:15pm | report spam | reply

    IPS

    Isn't one of the major reason Apple can't get enough displays the fact that it's an IPS display? Maybe RIM is going cheap and skipping the IPS tech?


  1. Hamranhansenhansen

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2010

    0
    08/09, 03:46pm | report spam | reply

    Good luck RIM

    If it doesn't have C apps, it's not a PC replacement, because C is the language that PC apps and console games are written in. BlackBerry and Android have Java apps, like the 2005 phone systems that they are. If it's not a PC replacement, it's hard to sell for $500. The thing that pushes buyers over the edge on iPad is when they see it running Keynote and realize they can do presentations on it, or see it running 3D games and realize they can have an on-the-go console game experience, or see it running drawing and painting tools, or music and audio tools. On iPad, these are all desktop-class apps. Many have Mac/PC or console game heritage. And Apple's world class object-oriented development tools make things like Hulu Plus very quick to develop, and Hulu Plus is 10 times as good as the Flash-based Hulu.

    > 9.7

    I thought BlackPad was said to have a 7-inch display. Considering the biggest screen BlackBerry OS 6 is running on is 480x320, they may struggle to do a full-size 1024x768 display. Android does not support the iPad screen, either. Again, these are phone systems they're scaling up, while iOS is built on OS X which already scales to Xeon workstations with 30-inch displays.

    The thing is, iPhone is really iPhone+iPod, and iPad is really iPad+Mac. On the smaller device, you're competing with Apple's iPod heritage, and on the larger device, with Apple's Mac heritage. It's a ton of software infrastructure that nobody else has. It's not just about building a 3.5-inch or 10-inch touchscreen device.


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