BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has announced that it will show off its updated PlayBook tablet operating system at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that is currently taking place in Las Vegas.
PlayBook OS 2.0 will – finally – introduce native email and calendar applications to the tablet. Currently users have to hook the iPad rival up to a BlackBerry handset to be able to get their all-important emails and calendar reminders.
Leaving these functions off the original release of the PlayBook was a frankly bizarre decision, one that suggests the product was rush-released before Apple’s iPad pulled even further into the distance. Sales figures since its release, which have fallen quarter on quarter, suggest the device hasn’t captured the public’s imagination. A recent price cut on the PlayBook was seen as another sign that sales were not doing very well.
To be fair to RIM, PlayBook OS 2.0 does introduce some interesting features. The new email functionality will enable users to manage their personal and work emails from one unified inbox (something that is admittedly already available on Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS). Users will also be able to multi-task within the email app – so a user has the ability to reference one email was composing another, RIM said.
The updates also go deep into social territory. The contacts app will pull together information on a contact from a variety of sources such as email and social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The calendar app does something similar – grabbing information about a contact that the user may be meeting that day, whether it is personal or work-related information.
Another new update – called Bridge – can turn a BlacKBerry smartphone into a wireless remote control for the PlayBook, so the handheld’s keyboard and mouse function can be used on the tablet. Bridge also lets users open documents or files that are on their smartphone on their PlayBook – handy for viewing videos and images at a higher resolution.
"BlackBerry PlayBook is already recognised for delivering powerful performance, true multi-tasking, advanced web browsing and HD multimedia in an ultra-portable design," said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at RIM. "With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 we are building on this strong foundation, as well as leveraging our strengths in communications, social integration and productivity, to allow people to use their BlackBerry PlayBook in new ways throughout the day."
Whether this is enough to turn the PlayBook around remains to be seen, certainly many people will rightly be asking why many of these features were not available in the original release.
A positive reaction to PlayBook OS 2.0 at this week’s CES event will help 2012 get off to a good start for RIM. There’s no doubt the company needs it; 2011 was a terrible year for the Canadian firm with a huge outage that knocked out BlackBerry services for four days and a falling share price putting a huge amount of pressure on Lazaridis and his co-CEO Jim Balsillie.
The company has also experienced delays to a number of products and services and had to take a huge write-down on the PlayBook device. However the company did confirm to CBR that is was pushing ahead with plans for a PlayBook 2.0 device. Expect to hear more about that during 2012.
