RIM PlayBook Email App Nowhere In Sight
judgecorp writes "RIM has delayed the 2.0 release of its tablet's Playbook OS until 2012, and admitted it won't have the BlackBerry email app. PlayBook users will only be able to do BlackBerry email on their tablets by linking with a BlackBerry phone, for the foreseeable future."
So, a Blackberry without email? Seriously?
It's one thing to rush out a product incomplete. It's another to be so incompetent that you can't fulfill the promises that were made.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
What's Canadian English for, "They're f*cked" ?
I bought my playbook on the premise I'd be able to actually fucking USE it for something soon.
So now it will continue to sit on my desk ignored and unused.
Anyone wanna buy a playbook?
(I know, hell of a sales pitch.)
"Email is not important [yet]", remarked RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, "It is certainly not something at RIM has focused on in the past. When e-mail catches on you can be sure that RIM will be at the forefront."
RIM??? They still wasting revenue chasing their proprietary pipe dream? I have 3 letters for them: D.O.A.
And they provide a link to the official blog, where it clearly states that the delay is for BlackBerry Messenger, *not* the enterprise email app. They simply don't mention anything about enterprise email there at all.
Who is John Galt?
Well, it does have a web browser, so Gmail should be good to go...
Dude, there are tons of things you can do with a Playbook without an attached Blackberry. It makes an excellent oversized coaster or underside plate. A little string and some glue and it makes a nice hat. If you have a cat or very small dog it can be used for a nice kittie/doggie door. It also works as a mediocre paperweight, a very small and crappy snowboard, an extremely shallow ashtray, or a top quality piece of garbage. Seriously, I can barely even think of anything you can't do with a Playbook.
Except for tablet computing. It doesn't do that.
At this point, would it be fair to describe the Playbook as the "RIM Foleo"?
RIM keeps blah blahing about having billions in revenue. Revenue is great but profits are the only thing that matter in the end. RIM is probably one quarter away from being profitless. Then they will have to cut to the bone.
The best laugh I had was where they got this skateboarder type who was developing some "Rad" app for them. This was a baby boomer interpretation of being youthful. They might as well had they guy developing from on top of a surfboard.
RIM is following in the footsteps of Novell, and Word Perfect. Once they lost growth and market domination the end came far more quickly than you would have thought.
What I am waiting for is this moment when they realize that their numbers are so awful that they will be instantly ruined. This might be when they pull a Nortel and start cooking the books. Minimally I predict they will start noodling the books to the maximum allowed by the loosest of accounting standards. Hiding costs and somehow booking future revenues now.
Maybe it's the whole purpose of this lack of apps: To make you captive from the blackberry. They might think that the tablet fashion can lead to more blackberry sales ? don't know, just trying to explain some really bad strategy...
Honestly, I put up a semi-brave fight in controlling the inflow of iDevices into our org because the security functions and management were weak. In hindsight, I was stalling for the Playbook to come and save the day.
The Playbook is a piece of shit, and mostly due to the lack of e-mail support. The fact that a subsquent release still won't have this, shows me that RIM has no fucking clue.
Thanks to them, I've had to re-evaluate our approach in regards to iDevices and put the controls in places. Stuff that I could have dodged had RIM not been as arrogant and actually listened to their clients and looked at what made the iDevices so appealing.
Anyways, the things we put in place for the iDevices will serve us well, but it's things that wouldn't have been necessary if I could use the same operational model with the BB. And to be honest, I no longer care. Heck, I even have an iPhone as my main phone now. Working on a pilot to give staff the option to use personal smartphones in a controlled manner. So the BB days are numbered in our org.
Wearing pants should always be optional.
Why don't they just give up already?
I wish I had mod points. This is so true.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
Well that's a bit of a sticky wicket now isn't it?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
RIMs official blog post on their website that is linked to states "bring our...email integration capabilities to the tablet category." Only BBM is being delayed with no view in sight. http://blogs.blackberry.com/2011/10/blackberry-playbook-2-update/
The arrival of Playbook OS 2.0 has been put off till February 2012, according to a blog post, which also revealed that the new version will not contain the long-awaited BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) application, which would allow Playbook users to access BlackBerry email without hooking up to a BlackBerry phone.
Whoever wrote this article doesn't understand the difference between BBM and email. RIM has said that BBM is delayed out of the Feb. release and has said nothing about email. BBM and email are two different things.
The managers and CEOs really seem like they don't have a clue, and are stuck living in the "Blackberry dominated past"-mindset.
I just got my Fire Sale Touchpads I ordered a couple of months ago, and I have to say that WebOS is awesome. HP really shot themselves in the foot with getting rid of them. At $250-$300 they would have sold a ton of them. They were too much at iPad pricing levels though.
There is a rumor going around though, that they may keep making them, but put Windows 8 on them instead.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
Yes, there isn't a native email application...but who cares? Browse to whatever webmail you're using and you're fine.
(Of course that doesn't work if you're not using something with a web front end. But even my old alma mater has a web front end for its email and it's got 1500 students.)
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
Yes, I can see how owning a no longer supported by anyone tablet with an OS with NO FUTURE is preferable to an "also ran" that still has a company behind it.
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
"...revealed that the new version will not contain the long-awaited BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) application, which would allow Playbook users to access BlackBerry email without hooking up to a BlackBerry phone."
Who is John Galt?
I believe the "facepalm" tag is missing from this story.
Guess we have to wait until RIM files for BK before this loser of a tablet goes for what it's worth - about 99 bucks. Though better than HP's but not by much. Same messed up path that HP went down - wrong OS, wrong features, wrong everything.
Messaging is supposed to be RIM's forte. You would expect the Playbook to not only have a messaging app, but one with compelling features the others don't have, -whether their security related or otherwise.
A web app, which more than likely was designed primarily for desktop use, is a poor substitute.
When the iPhone first came out, a lot of people in our office wanted to be able to get their Lotus Notes email on it. IBM promised a native client, but it never came (not really their fault). What did happen though was the addition of ActiveSync compatibility with the iPhone email client. This let a lot of other email systems like Gmail and Exchange in the door. Unfortunately, there's still hoops to jump through to get Notes to sync with an iPhone (or Android device). Guess what email system will probably be gone in the next 6 months?
Notes does have a smart phone optimized web app and it's not bad, but it's not as good as using the native app.
The linked site states "the new version will not contain the long-awaited BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) application, which would allow Playbook users to access BlackBerry email without hooking up to a BlackBerry phone." That isn't what BlackBerry Messenger does, the linked site is full of crap and has no clue what they're talking about. OS 2.0 will have email, but no BBM. Read the press release. http://blogs.blackberry.com/2011/10/blackberry-playbook-2-update/
I can tell you wrote that comment in an agile fashion, as quickly as possible, without pausing to review, edit, or even spell check it.
Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
A Playbook isn't a tablet, it's a bigger screen for your Blackberry. Except it's SOLD as a tablet, and it's trying to compete against tablets that can actually function without another device.
You seem to confuse "integration" and "dependence."
No, I wrote it because thats the truth. But you just showed the fall of traditional method's, document the problem but not actually fix anything :-).
Coffin nail number 1: the dying BlackBerry
Coffin nail number 2: PlayBook
What's going to finish RIM?
As long as they keep giving out free tablets to developers at GDC, they can delay it as long as they want.
Mooniacs for iOS and Android
RIM was already losing market share, hand over fist, to Android and iOS for some time. Then along comes the iPad, and RIM's executives apparently decide they can jump into that space AND force a resurgence in Blackberry phone sales by requiring their new tablet to tether to a Blackberry phone in order to do anything particularly useful.
Since the Playbook was intended specifically to require a Blackberry - why is anyone surprised at this delay? In my mind, the only question is whether this is actually a technical problem or just continued intransigence on the part of RIM executives.
Actually, there is a bigger question - why do those RIM executives still have jobs? Their whole decision-making process demonstrated both blazing stupidity and being absurdly out of touch with reality.
#DeleteChrome
Okay, I'm posting right here, where it could get read.
I own a Playbook. It came with the only two apps I currently use: Word to go and Kobo Books. I look forward(very, very far forward) to the day that I can actually receive email on the damn thing. Since I have my BB fully encrypted, I have to enter the encryption password on the BB, and then the PB, in order to view email. For now, I will continue using it to read books and doc files without having to carry my netbook around an office, or deal with it's keyboard/touchpad.
I like it's size and some of the gestures they've cooked up for it, I find it very usable. It is unfortunate that it will be doomed to nothingness. I could have been considered a BB fanboy at one point, indeed, even now I know more than anyone should about installing, migrating and maintaining BES. But I have accepted what will come, and it is unfortunate. The OS is clean and crisp, but I'm sure when it hits phone it will be disgusting, and no developers will ever approach the fractured device ecosystem that is BB.
If you want a tablet, either get an iPad or try an Android. The PB is dead in the water, and RIM's future as well.
I have a Blackberry. I love it (as much as anyone can love a phone) And I'm also somewhat sensitive to choosing the wrong platform, being a former Amiga guy.
For all the talk of RIMs demise, around here (Toronto) in my informal survey of people I see with phones, BlackBerries dominate. I ride the TTC a fair bit, and I have never seen an iPhone on the TTC. Never. I've seen a couple of Android phones, but BlackBerries I see by the dozens. And not just in the hands of government or corporate types - I mean the kids too.
I've tried very hard to avoid self-selection bias so it's not just fanboi recognition - I think it's real data (for as much worth as it is)
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
I am pretty much a hater when it comes to the MVC model of programming as is it is employed forced upon developers in Symbian and am I did not like the Microsoft MFC version of it either. I don't like the Apple Cocoa methods of handling MVC either. BUT!!!! In general, the separation of model from view and controller (also known as the user interface components) is a great idea... particularly when coding in an object oriented language where you don't have to work hard to make this happen.
So, if you happen to be working on a platform that is primarily written in Java as is Blackberry everything, it is simple to imagine that a group of talented UI developers should be able to make at least a simple messenger client quite quickly. Then the nerdy guys in the driver lab can develop the hardware encryption engine in parallel. Let us not forget that there is nothing that can be implemented in hardware that can't also be implemented in software. Encryption code IS NOT that hard to implement. Nearly all encryption functions can be done in relatively little code. So, to let the UI developers make a new UI for the libraries, an internal version of the encryption engine can be hacked together in software while the driver guys sort out the hardware side of it.
All in all.... starting with just the Blackberry phone messaging client and getting a playbook version up SHOULD NOT be a huge issue.
Now, if the parent poster to yours is correct at any level, it could be an issue that the servers are unable to support multiple messaging clients on the same account in parallel. If this is the case... WOW!!! What a piece of shit!.
PlayBook users will only be able to do BlackBerry email on their tablets by linking with a BlackBerry phone, for the foreseeable future."
Or by using a browser.
That Toshiba device just made me vomit in my own mouth.
Its everything wrong with mobile devices.
As much I wanted to dislike the iPad it won me over. Its not perfect (I would like different profiles for my wife and me), but its pretty damned good.
I've also ordered a Kindle Fire because it is a media consumption device. You may not realize it, but Amazon just made itself kind of distribution in the digital world. The bits and pieces didn't seem to fit until now you have unlimited music, video, books and web access inside a tiny package.
I suspect almost everybody (well, except you) gets it and won't be returning it because its not an iPad. They'll probably own both.
I ordered a Fire as well, and think it will complement my iPad quite well, and probably replace my older Kindle, since LCD screens don't seem to bother me when I'm reading, but 10" tablets are a touch too big somtimes late at night when reading.
Specs are irrelevant. I know this is Slashdot, and we love them... but I would trade my iPad 2 for an iPad 1 before any other Android Tablet. Nobody ever complains they are sluggish, and as devices, they serve the role they need to. I dispute those who say they are ONLY for media consumption, but the reality is, they ARE PRIMARILY for media consumption. An iPad is great for apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, book reading, etc.
Amazon is the only one with the ecosystem to attract the type of people who are attracted to the iPad. Amazon can supply not just apps, but TV shows, movies, music, etc. If I bought an ASUS tablet, which app can I use to buy and download last night's episode of XYZ?