RIM PlayBook target drops from 2.4m to 800K

RIM has quietly cut its sales expectations for the BlackBerry PlayBook after its disappointing sales from the spring, those in the supply business said Wednesday. It had planned for as many as 2.4 million of the tablets in its summer quarter but had now pared that back to between 800,000 and 900,000 units. Digitimes claimed RIM had an optimistic prediction of 2.4 million PlayBooks for its most recent quarter but, at 500,000 units, wasn't going to reach its next goal.

Analyst predictions were right as RIM had shipped about 40,000 to 50,000 PlayBooks on launch, according to the tips. However, enthusiasm quickly petered out and was lower than RIM had anticipated.

The mismatch between goals and reality was likely to compound an already bad situation for RIM, which saw its phone shipments drop over 11 percent in one quarter and is already forecasting as much as a 16 percent decline again in the summer. It may lean most of its hopes on 3G and 4G PlayBooks arriving in the fall.

Despite the lowered expectations, RIM was still the frontrunner in a marginal market for tablets outside of the iPad. Motorola shipped half as many Xooms as RIM did PlayBooks. Acer, once thought to be more successful among Android tablet makers, cut its 2011 goals in half to where it may ship at most three million Iconia Tabs all year.

Current rivals are estimated to be shipping between 100,000 to 200,000 units a month where Apple is so far receiving millions.

By Electronista Staff

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industry, gadgets, Acer, BlackBerry, Motorola, RIM, Apple, iPad, PlayBook, Xoom, Iconia Tab