So, after all the bad reviews and the tear-down, how are consumers reacting to RIM’s PlayBook tablet as an iPad alternative? The device sold between 45,000 and 50,000 on its first day, two analyst have publicly stated. However other observers (which preferred to remain unnamed) see the figures as too high, especially given its limited availability and exposure.
Jeffries analyst Peter Misek earlier this week said Research in Motion sold 45,000 PlayBooks — 25,000 of which were pre-orders — Tuesday. RBC analyst Mike Abramsky views the PlayBook launch as “stronger than the launch of Motorola’s Xoom Tablet, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab, although it’s too early to judge sustainability.” Ah, that pesky little question of sustainability. That’s where it gets interesting.
Reports suggested only limited supplies of the PlayBook were available at retailers. In New York City, PlayBook inventory was described as less than a dozen and one Bay Area Best Buy told All Things Digital there was only a “handful” of the tablets.
One unnamed analyst said the PlayBook’s first day “seemed more of a beta launch.” “A lot of the distribution partners didn’t have the product in stock yet, and there has been essentially no advertising,” the analyst added.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
7 responses to “RIM Sells 50K PlayBook Tablets on First Day Amid Little Inventory, Ads”
At a local Best Buy they were out the 16GB iPad, and the salesman was all over me trying to get my to buy the PlayBook how it’s so much better than the iPad, etc., etc.
Yeah that’s just Best Buy being Best Buy. They would do that to their mothers if they had any. I found that people were curious about the PlayBook here and it will do well as a portable tablet. It all depends on what you use a tablet for.
http://slicedapple.wordpress.c…
no advertising? They’ve been laying it on thick here in canada. Everybody and their dog was trying to get people to pre-order the Playbook more than a month before it was released.
Agreed, every big box store that has a computer section has tons of displays up featuring the Playbook