Will the BlackBerry PlayBook's $499 price prove attractive enough? - BlackBerry PlayBook; the company has to be as it is losing market share to both Android and iOS. It's price point for its BlackBerry PlayBook, now revealed to be $499, may not be good enough to beat back either challenger, however.
The iPad's starting price is $499 for a model with 16 gigabytes of storage and wi-fi connectivity. The iPad's price, either sold by Verizon or AT&T, rises to $829 for the maxed-out version (64GB of storage, 3G + wi-fi connectivity).
The PlayBook's $499 price therefore matches the iPad's lowest tier, and the PlayBook will only initially have wi-fi, just as the lowest model iPad does. The PlayBook will be a 7" tablet, however, vs. the iPad's 9.7" screen.
Additionally, by the time the PlayBook ships in Q1 2011, there will be multiple rivals, aside from the iPad. T-Mobile's Galaxy Tab launched on Nov. 10; Verizon's launches on Nov. 11, and Sprint's launches on Nov. 14. AT&T will have a version as well, though a date has not been announced yet.
Meanwhile, other vendors such as HP have either launched or are going to launch tablets. The market will be crowded, so its unclear that a $499 price is sufficient to gain back the market share that RIM has lost.
Matt Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC in Boston said:
"There’s going to be a lot of tablets on the market so I think pricing is going to start coming down. This will probably set the floor at least near term for pricing and then they’ll probably build up from there."
The Galaxy Tabs coming on Sprint and T-Mobile are $399 with a two-year service contract; Verizon's is $599 without a contract. All offer 3G connectivity, unlike the PlayBook.