back to article RIM demos PlayBook OS2

PlayBook owners should be getting native email next month, but as RIM's tablet gains independence it's also shifting away from the infrastructure which has served RIM so well. RIM has been demonstrating the latest version of its PlayBook OS at CES, and has finally got native PIM applications running on the tablet – including …

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  1. Gordon 10
    WTF?

    Active Sync?

    I seem to remember that BB handsets have supported both their own protocols and AS for some time now. I wonder if the playbook decision was tactical based on available resource prioritsation on the OS2 project or strategic based on EOLing their own protocols?
  2. jai

    instant fail before it even arrives?

    so... i thought the reason everyone wanted a RIM tablet was because it'd use the same secure email as the blackberries and therefore your enterprises existing infrastructure around that. but instead, they've provided email that's no more secure than on any other tablet? can't see how that's going to win back any fans also "putting LinkedIn contacts on a par with business associates" worries me somewhat. I don't want people i worked with 10 years ago to be alongside my current colleagues and contacts. that's why current contacts are in my address book, and old friends/collegues and job agency recruiters are on Linkedin so they don't get in the way every day when i'm looking for someone's details.
    1. Giles Jones Gold badge
      Well by the time it arrives the iPad 3 will probably be around with much better specs. Especially if the rumoured resolution doubling takes place. Remember, the original Playbook was pitched as an iPad killer. When it was pretty obvious they hadn't gone the extra two miles to surpass the extra mile that Apple put in. The problems RIM had with email on the 1st release were not impossible just they thought it "would do for now", which is not how you beat a market leader.
      1. CheesyTheClown
        Happy

        Using a Windows 8 Tablet myself

        Frankly... I have my Windows 8 Samsung Series 7 Slate here and I've pretty much ditched my iPad... I just keep in near the couch I read bedtime stories to the kids from because the Kindle app for Windows Metro hasn't arrived yet.

        I get all the bells and whistles of iOS, Blackberry and Android and I can also run real applications on it. I just stick it into the dock on my desk at work and I have a PC connected to my 24" screen, keyboard and mouse. When I am done at the end of the day, I just pick it up and then I can watch films or listen to music on itunes, check mail in Exchange, or play AngryBirds. When I get home, I plug in a game controller and play DC Universe or up to 4 player Dungeon Defenders on it.

        Ok... the battery life still needs work. It only lasts about 3.5 hours with the current version of Windows 8, but the new beta coming out should get it to about 5 or 6 by shutting down nearly all the unused devices when it's in tablet mode. That's about the same as my year old iPad which has been charged every night since I got it.

        Microsoft decided with their tablet OS to no bother playing catch up and instead decided to take such an incredible technical lead over iOS and other that they'll be playing catch-up for years to come.

        Oh.. and the Series 7 Slate is just as damn pretty as my 8 year old daughter's iPad 2. Just a little heavier :) I'll probably buy an ARM based tablet with Windows 8 when it comes around to program for it.

  3. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Meh BBM and Corporate lethargy are the only things keeping RIM in business right now. With more Android and iDevices in the Enterprise, GOOD Technology is emerging as the leader there as they support those platforms. Corporations resist changes but they are starting to move from RIM based tech due to the instability of that company. The Playbook was just another mis-step in a series of bungles from RIM. To recover RIM will have to do this perfectly the first time or the rest will abandon ship.
    1. quarky
      Facepalm Good Technology? Are you joking? That is the the biggest piece of garbage around. The exec's love it because it means they can use devices with an apple logo on, but the notification system is crap, trying to read new emails when you are on the train is crap, and it regularly fails to sync appointments. Apart from all that though, well, it is still crap. As for BB email, it will still be there on the device, it is no optional. So you can have your secure BB mail and your personal mail.
  4. Thomas 4

    Was it just me

    ...or did anyone else have flashbacks of another doomed enterprise caled OS2?
    1. Steve Knox
      Joke

      @Thomas 4

      You have a Warped mind.
    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      FAIL

      I just thought it was apt. They called the thing a Playbook and now they've called its o/s OS2.

      You'd almost think that RIMs marketing types were doing their level best to ensure that nobody buys one.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward RIM soon to be renamed RIP.
  6. Kyoraki
    Headmaster "BlackBerry 10 OS – formerly known as QNX" I'm pretty sure you meant BBX there. QNX is an embedded system that's been around since the 80's, which serves as the core for both Playbook OS, and the upcoming Blackberry 10 OS.
    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      WTF?

      Hmm, I was about to contradict you there by quoting the bit from the QNX website about how QNX Neutrino underpins the BB Playbook, like I did last time this came up.

      However, it seems to have disappeared. I guess they've decided that the stench of death around the thing is too awful to be associated with.

  7. Charlie van Becelaere

    It wasn't just Thomas 4

    I mean, I knew the CEO types at RIM were a bit warped, but this is carrying it all a bit too far, don't you think?
  8. /dev/null
    Boffin

    Why 10?

    The last major release of legacy BlackBerry OS was 7.0, AFAIK - what happened to 8 and 9?
    1. kventin

      base 8?

      because... just because

  9. Ilsa Loving
    Facepalm

    OS2?

    So apparently the whole BBX trademark debacle was so much fun that they decided getting sued over the OS/2 trademark would be even better?
  10. DrXym

    My guess

    RIM discovered that their email stack / app was 15 years of accumulated spaghetti touched by hundreds of developers and porting it to their tablet was virtually impossible in the timeframe. So they concocted a story that the tablet had to bridged to a phone through an ugly kludge "for security" and were amazed that nobody else shared their view. Problem is of course is now they're very late to the party and I expect enterprises are wondering why they need blackberry at all. After all, it's not like the iOS or Android powered devices are *that* enterprise hostile and Windows Phone / 8 is another option. RIM really is starting to look redundant.
  11. Gil Grissum
    FAIL RIM got left behind here. The Playbook is irrelevant now. The small number of people who bought a Playbook may be interested in this if their Playbook can upgrade to the new OS, but if not, look for them on Ebay.
    1. ItsNotMe
      Happy

      Guess I'm one of the "small number of people"...and glad to be so.

      My Playbook does all I need it to do. I can tether it to my cell phone (not a BB) for Internet access, and that is how I get my e-mail anyway. Only set me back USD $199.00 for a 16 GB model...so I'm happy.

      Looking very much forward to the OS upgrade for the few Android apps that I use on my phone.

      1. bazza Silver badge

        @ItsNotMe: Me too!

        Same here, except I've got a BB phone. I really really like the way email, calendar and contacts are bridged to my blackberry phone. I'd hate to lose that feature.

        I use my Playbook at home, and the bluetooth reaches my 9800 Torch anywhere in the house. Then when I go out everything is there on my handset without needing a battery or data sucking sync to some stupid cloud somewhere.

        I think that Playbooks are a real bargin at the moment, and if you have a BB phone then they're almost a no brainer because of the price. If the OS update means that all those Android apps start working too then suddenly the Playbook will be highly competitive from a technical point of view. RIM are going to have to do a lot of demonstrations to the public to get the message across...

  12. John Sanders
    FAIL

    Nothing to see here...

    RIM Lost the plot a long time ago, please move along.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @John Sanders

      To everyone posting RIM fail messages or nothing to see here messages, why are you all here, reading this and posting comments?

      1. John Sanders
        FAIL

        Yes I do read the comments

        But most importantly I used to be an enthusiastic RIM user until BES 5 and OS 6 arrived. Seriously I recommended RIM BES & Smartphones to everything that moved.

        Now my only form of relief (after being forced to use the turds that RIM smartphones have turned into every single day) is to affirm:

        YES RIM LOST THE PLOT AT SOME POINT, AND IT IS NOT FINDING IT SO FAR.

        My next phone is not a RIM one, and I'm recommending everyone not to buy a RIM phone ever again until they do not manufacture something akin to the year 2012 expected specifications for a £400 smartphone.

        1. John Sanders
          FAIL

          I meant...

          ever again until they DO manufacture...

  13. mark l 2 Silver badge

    I really hope the version 2 of the playbook OS can help sell some tablets for RIM if only just to see QNX live on as an OS as the original QNX was a superb OS, found in everything from hardware controlling nuclear reactors to medical equipment because it was so reliable and customisable.

    I still have the floppy disk somewhere that had QNX running an OS with a working web broswer from a single disk.

  14. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    A calender AND a contact list

    If it also came with Tetris or MineSweeper it would nearly be capable as Windows1.0

  15. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge
    Angel

    Does it come bundled...

    ...with Neko?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neko_%28computer_program%29

  16. Muncher23
    Happy

    Another PB fan

    yes yet another PB fan -- my is the iPad so big? PB is the size of a paperback and paperbacks are that size 'cause it works -- you all know its so but are too scared to say so.

  17. the-it-slayer
    Pint

    @ItsNotMe: Happy now, unhappy later

    Why? Because RIM will ditch the PlayBook as fast as it can dump all the spares in the sea when it costs them more to catch-up and the 2nd rendition gets initially reviewed as an ultimate failure. Then you'll be left with a device aging quicker the hardware can kill itself rate.

    When I saw a meddle-geek play with his new PlayBook on the train a fair few months ago, he was spending more time trying to work the damn thing rather than being productive with it.

    RIM will be falling into the pit of long-lost creativity along with Nokia.

  18. James 100

    I had to use a BlackBerry handset for a short time fairly recently. After proper smartphones, it was painful - from the literal discomfort (the stupid pointy little keys dug into my fingertips!) to a user interface which made me say "so THAT's where the MS DOS Shell went".

    It's a great shame QNX fell into the hands of these turkeys - let's hope someone better pulls it out of the wreckage when RIM finally gets garbage-collected. Up against Apple, the Android handset manufacturers and Windows Phone, they haven't got the hardware edge, haven't got the UI, haven't got the applications - all they have left is an installed user base, and that's shrinking fast too. Rather like Lotus and WordPerfect a few years ago, in fact...

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