Josh OngOn Tuesday, analyst Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. sent a note to investors voicing concerns over the unreleased 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's battery life after checks with "industry and supply chain sources." In the note, Wu suggested that he had "heard" that the PlayBook's battery life was just "a few hours" and would require a "a bit of re-engineering."
The PlayBook is slated for a first quarter 2011 release, though RIM has not projected any revenue from the PlayBook tablet for its next fiscal quarter, which ends next fiscal quarterFeb. 26 with a price tag below $500.
RIM released its statement denying Wu's claims late Wednesday, Forbes reports.
“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read. "RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.â€
RIM's statement fails to specify what exactly the PlayBook will be comparable with, but Wu's note compared the tablet to the Samsung Galaxy Tab's 6 hours of battery life and the Apple iPad's 10 hours of battery.
That RIM continues to assert that the PlayBook's performance will be "superior" should come as no surprise, as RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently touted the PlayBook as "way ahead" of the iPad.
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
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In response to one Wall Street's analyst assertion that the upcoming PlayBook tablet was experiencing battery issues, Research In Motion responded with a statement denying the claim and promising "superior performance with comparable battery life."
On Tuesday, analyst Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. sent a note to investors voicing concerns over the unreleased 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's battery life after checks with "industry and supply chain sources." In the note, Wu suggested that he had "heard" that the PlayBook's battery life was just "a few hours" and would require a "a bit of re-engineering."
The PlayBook is slated for a first quarter 2011 release, though RIM has not projected any revenue from the PlayBook tablet for its next fiscal quarter, which ends next fiscal quarterFeb. 26 with a price tag below $500.
RIM released its statement denying Wu's claims late Wednesday, Forbes reports.
“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read. "RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”
RIM's statement fails to specify what exactly the PlayBook will be comparable with, but Wu's note compared the tablet to the Samsung Galaxy Tab's 6 hours of battery life and the Apple iPad's 10 hours of battery.
That RIM continues to assert that the PlayBook's performance will be "superior" should come as no surprise, as RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently touted the PlayBook as "way ahead" of the iPad.
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Even if it's superior performance with comparable battery life to the current iPad, which I doubt, the new iPad will have been out long before the PlayBook, and RIM will once again be playing catch up.
Is RIM becoming the Venezuela of the mobile technology industry ...?
"I think the PlayBook redefines what a tablet should do," said Balsillie, asserting that the tablet's redefinition involves the web, not apps.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
He smokes too much.
?Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented," the statement read.
I was told QNX has power management built in, so why would this be absent?
Considering most apps access the web and there a lot more than a WebKit browser app on the PlayBook, he?s either not getting it or playing a very weak trick.
Even if it's superior performance with comparable battery life to the current iPad, which I doubt, the new iPad will have been out long before the PlayBook, and RIM will once again be playing catch up.
So far, RiM has been touting superior performance from a spec list PoV, but we?ll see how that translates into real world usage. If this thing takes a minute to boot, has long waits between app launchings and jerky transitions the way WebOS did when first released that?s not going to bode well for RiM.
Also note that Jobs stated in the last special event with the MBAs that they are using even stricter tests for the battery. I have to wonder if they are going to push that even further when they are already so far ahead of the game on this measure, does this mean that they?ve made some breakthroughs in HW and SW power management that will blow us away at the next event?
Is RIM becoming the Venezuela of the mobile technology industry ...?
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently touted the PlayBook as "way ahead" of the iPad.
Please explain me how something that is not even available can be "way ahead" of an almost one year old product ?
The demo video already available looks really great : you don't need to embarrass yourself with groundless unverifiable statement until the actual product is available to customers.