by Al Sacco

BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet to Hit 16 More Markets Within a Month

Opinion
Jun 10, 20112 mins
MobileSmall and Medium Business

The new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will soon become available in more of RIM's largest markets, including Indonesia.

Many BlackBerry enthusiasts and gadget geeks outside of North America will soon be able to get their hands on Research In Motion’s (RIM) first tablet PC, since the PlayBook will become available in 16 additional countries and locales over the coming month, according to the BlackBerry maker.

BlackBerry PlayBook with Battery Life Indicator
BlackBerry PlayBook with Battery Life Indicator

RIM today announced that the Wi-Fi-only version of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet PC will become available in the following markets, within the next 30 days:

  • UK
  • Netherlands
  • Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
  • Hong Kong
  • Australia
  • Venezuela
  • Spain
  • Germany
  • UAE
  • Singapore
  • Mexico
  • France
  • Italy
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Colombia

The news is significant because a number of these new markets are already home to some very loyal and active BlackBerry users, particularly Indonesia and India, and RIM is sure to sell quite a few tablets in these areas.

RIM has not yet announced official sales numbers for the BlackBerry PlayBook, but at least one analyst estimated that roughly 250,000 PlayBook were shipped in the first month after its initial release in the United States and Canada on April 19.

The BlackBerry-maker could release some official PlayBook sales numbers next week when the company announces its first quarter fiscal 2012 results.

I’ve used a PlayBook since its release, and though I’ve really come to appreciate the device, especially its small size, the software experience is still quite buggy. And from reading some comments on BlackBerry fan site, CrackBerry.com, the PlayBook software issues may be even worse for users who employ languages with many “special characters,” though the PlayBook already supports some of these characters.

So let’s hope RIM has another significant BlackBerry Tablet OS update with bolstered language support ready for these markets before it rolls out the PlayBook. (RIM’s latest PlayBook OS update, v1.0.5.2304, was just released earlier this week.)

AS

via RIM press release

Al Sacco covers Mobile and Wireless for CIO.com. Follow Al on Twitter @ASacco. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Al at asacco@cio.com