BlackBerry PlayBook UK price cuts: Firesale looms
It’s been on the cards for quite some time now, but it seems the BlackBerry PlayBook firesale is now looming. Retailers across the land are cutting the price of the under-performing tablet quite drastically, giving tablet bargain hunters plenty of reasons to start smashing their piggy banks.
Head over to the Carphone Warehouse today and you can pick up a BlackBerry PlayBook at 16GB for £169, 32GB for £199 and 64GB for £329. That’s down from £399, £479 and £559 respectively.
Amazon are making similar cuts, dropping the 16GB model under the £200 mark.
RIM in the US take the price-cutting biscuit however dropping every model (including the 64GB version!) to just $299 (£191) before tax.
Despite lukewarm reviews and sales to match the general lack of interest in the device, at these prices the BlackBerry PlayBook actually looks quite a good deal, in much the same way the £99 HP Touchpad firesale did.
However, RIM may be shooting their future prospects in the foot with the move. With the PlayBook’s QNX OS built on the same foundations as the forthcoming BlackBerry Ten mobile OS (due in just under a year), such desperate measures may be seen by some as an admission of the platform’s failure. With much of the upcoming BlackBerry portfolio resting on BlackBerry Ten, that would be a very foolish move.
