BlackBerry PlayBook Goes On Sale Today

From DailyTech: The day of reckoning for Research In Motion has arrived. The long-awaited BlackBerry PlayBook tablet hits store shelves today in the United States and Canada.

Early reviews for the tablet -- which lacks a dedicated email, calendar, and contacts app -- have been quite lackluster. (Example: The New York Times' David Pogue: "RIM has just shipped a BlackBerry product that cannot do email. It must be skating season in hell.") The reviews have been so lukewarm that RIM's co-CEO's went on the defensive last week to try to stem the flow of bad press. They know that the PlayBook might be the Canadian company's last chance to win consumers over, before RIM follows Palm into the sunset.

Reuters reports that about 20,000 stores will stock the PlayBook, and that it will also be sold directly to enterprises.

The PlayBook is launching in a Wi-Fi-only version today. It is available at Best Buy in 16GB, 32GB, an 64GB versions, which are priced at $499, $599, and $699 respectively. According to Reuters, cellular-enabled PlayBooks are slated for mid-year.

While Apple's iPad dominated 2010 by moving almost 15 million units, a poll by Reuters of 18 analysts predicts that RIM will move 3 million PlayBooks in the same time period for 2011.

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