BlackBerry PlayBook gets huge price cut after Kindle Fire announcement

The BlackBerry PlayBook has not exactly been selling well since its launch. It seems that the combination of poor sales and the announcement of Amazon's Kindle Fire have prompted RIM to take drastic action regarding the price of the PlayBook. The tablets have just received a $200 price cut which requires no rebate or promised gift card.

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The PlayBook wasn't met with excitement when it launched and was criticized for an overwhelming lack of features. After Amazon announced their Kindle Fire tablet yesterday at $199 the PlayBook was immediately discounted down to $299.99 for the 16GB model. The 32GB will cost you $399.99 and the 64GB comes in at $599.99.

Smaller discounts have been seen on the Playbook especially after the massive fire sale on the HP TouchPad which also had a similarly difficult launch. The decision to cut the price considering Amazon’s cheaper, and arguably fuller featured, Fire will release this year is probably a wise one by RIM.

The problem is even with this massive price cut it will be hard for the PlayBook to have any impact on the tablet space. While many people know the name Blackberry it doesn’t have the selling power of the Kindle or Apple brands.

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The PlayBook also lacks features like a built in email or calendar application if users didn’t have a BlackBerry phone to complement the tablet. RIM has promised a 2.0 software update to remedy these issues and address other concerns which should hit in October but by then the Kindle Fire will be just weeks away.

It almost seems like the PlayBook may have the same fate as the TouchPad although not at quite a rapid rate of decline. Do you think the PlayBook has any chance of staying in the tablet game? Would you consider buying one if the price dropped even lower?

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