Retailers have announced the U.K. launch date of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook today, in addition to a price list that matches that of Apple’s iPad 2. But who will buy it?
The Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy will be selling the device from June 16th, and have now launched pre-order pages on their websites. Matching prices of Apple’s iPad 2, the device starts as £399 for the 16GB model, increasing to £479 and £559 for the 32GB and 64GB models respectively.
With exactly the same pricing structure, RIM obviously wants its PlayBook to compete with Apple’s rival iPad 2 as closely as possible – something some Android tablet manufactures haven’t been able to do. But with poor reviews and products recalls littering the PlayBook’s flaky start, will competitive prices be enough for customers to choose the PlayBook over the iPad 2?
Which one will/did you go for? Leave us a comment and let us know.
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
19 responses to “PlayBook Pricing Matches iPad 2 in U.K. – Which Tablet Would You Choose?”
This is so obvious I’m not even going to leave my preference and you will have to make the easy guess yourself.
iPad 2 duh…
Bought the iPad 2 few weeks ago after reading the initial reviews/specs/pricing on the PlayBook. If the PlayBook was £100 cheaper it may be a contender (same goes for any of the Android tablets). Unfortunately, for them, going head-to-head with the Apple Juggernaut (market presence, infrastructure, iTunes, App Store, brand recognition) is going to lead to pain and loss. p.s. I still prefer my Blackberry phone so it really would have made sense to consider PlayBook.
A Blackberry brought to market without native email or calendar and (according to many reviews) some inherrent instabilities in the OS ….. surely even Blackberry fans will be reluctant to grab this until it gets a raft of updates.
The one that actually works.
Ipad 2
A PlayBook if they become rare collectables! … somehow I doubt it though, a £350 paperweight that will be worth £50 in 6 months time.
Definitely, iPad 2
Which one does email out of the box?
Which one has apps ready to install out of the box?
Which one is certified 2012 paperweight?
Which one does a calendar out of the box?
Which one has people standing in line to buy it?
ipad no doubt