While RIM showed only a small glimpse of the future BlackBerry offerings in 2012, we’ve gathered some new information regarding a few products to expect. RIM will be expanding its tablet portfolio to two devices in 2012. Originally, the 10″ PlayBook projected was cancelled as RIM focused more on developing QNX into what is now BlackBerry 10. They’re even planning to roll out another 7″ tablet.
On the phone front, we’ve already told you the rumored BlackBerry 10 slider ‘Milan’ has been cancelled, but we speculate it will be rebirthed later. The first BlackBerry 10 device release looks to be getting pushed back (from the rumored May release), which makes us wonder if we’ll only see one BlackBerry 10 device release in 2012. We’re still unsure what is to come of the other rumored BlackBerry 10 devices. You can also expect at least two more Curves in 2012, but these will be targeted only to the East Asia and Africa markets.
Here’s a breakdown of what we’re hearing:
- 10″ PlayBook releasing in December 2012, will be LTE enabled
- 7″ PlayBook releasing in April 2012, will be 3G+ (will not be LTE due to chipset)
- First BlackBerry 10 phone releasing in September 2012
- PlayBook OS 2.0 releasing end of February 2012
- Mobile Fusion releasing in April 2012
- PlayBook Admin Service releasing end of February 2012
- Two new Curves for emerging markets. One Curve will be 2G only.
Many were hopeful we would see a BlackBerry 10 device announcement at BlackBerry World in May. We may very well see something, but from what we’ve heard ‘if’ we do it may be in similar fashion as the first PlayBook (behind glass). It’s more likely we’ll only see the new 7″ PlayBook with OS 2.0 at BlackBerry World.
Although it is dates we weren’t exactly hoping to hear, anything can change. RIM has stated the cause for delay is due to the LTE chipset from Qualcomm, which we’ve already analyzed why the wait may be for the best. We hope the release of PlayBook OS 2.0 and continued market penetration of BlackBerry 7 devices will be enough to keep BlackBerry afloat until the end of 2012 as the wait for BlackBerry 10 will be so worth it.
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Tags: 10" PlayBook, 7" PlayBook, BlackBerry, BlackBerry 10, BlackBerry PlayBook, LTE, PlayBook, PlayBook OS 2.0, RIM
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why would the curve be 2g only?? backward step
2G for markets that don’t yet have 3G, and are very price sensitive
I can agree with that. A 3G+ phone is only useful its you’re going to be browsing, downloading apps, streaming w/e. Makes sense, bbm is still instant, email will be secure and push, battery life will be very good, the price should be rock bottom for a smartphone and that’s what people care about.
ah ok yeah i suppose that makes sense! and knowing RIM they will make a 9350 2G only and call it the 9390 and claim its a brand new phone….
sound off…
Drop the playbooks and focus on the phones.
But the Playbook’s OS is what they’re basing their new phone OS off of… so why drop it when you can develop the future OS on an existing device?
The only way a vendor of mobiles devices can survive through the next five years is with a viable ecosystem. RIM needs to create that ecosystem or it is dead. Therefore it would make zero sense to drop the tablets right now.
I hope we see a nice 10″ playbook with a minor improvement in specs for about 500-400. That would be sweet!
I think RIM is being smart here. The curves working on bringing that price down as low as it can go. The BB10 phone is going to set the bar for a high-end smartphone….
As far as the tablets are concerned though, releasing a second 7″ might not be worth it. The hardware on the 7″ is good enough for at least 6 more months. I thought RIM had loads and loads of playbooks in warehouses. If they make a refresh, they must be selling their inventory rather well.
100% agree ……….. good post.
Can you mention how many sources confirmed which parts of this info?
Probably not:
This site is common with making attractive titles and then only developing speculation.
Not to say they also make false give aways and then not publishing results.
False giveaways? What are you talking about? All winners are sent PM. Sorry if you haven’t been a winner, but there’s no reason to spread lies.
Why not publish winners name?
We’ve had issues in the past. Users that had won were harassed by users who did not win. Therefore, in the interest of our members, winners are notified through PM and can declare themselves a winner on their own terms.
Lucas, do you know if the 7-inch tablet will be called a PlayBook and look identical to the current PlayBook? Or will they rebrand and change the design to differentiate it more?
That I unfortunately do not know at this moment. My guess is they will keep it similar, but just add different hardware…that being a radio for 3G+ connectivity.
Forget about asking Lucas. It’s only speculation. Better ask him about weather in three months.
If you’ve been following us since our BBLeaks days, you’ll know we’ve been nearly 100% spot-on with everything. Again, sorry you weren’t selected as a winner in a contest, but there’s no need to try and spread disinformation.
Lucas, can you add a “Ban this Loser” button for clueless clowns that harass you on your site? Once a majority percentage of readers select it, clown go bye bye?
Good works there Mr Atkins, don’t let this guy get under your skin.
Who knows what might happen.
winner is time minus selection. anything else doesn’t spread. Winners selection isn’t sorry – it’s misinformed. Eric, Lucas – peace is subliminal
Would you rather listen to the idiots @bgr?
youre most likely a douche. but youre definitely rude
@ eric
Hey Eric douche…
If you are so pissed at this site, why not take your dumb ass over to iBGR where they welcome idiots like you with open arms? Judging by your comments, you would add about 2 1/2 IQ points to the 5 IQ points shared between the RIM trolls over there…..
@Eric
I am sad to see your comments based on our giveaways. N4bb has been around for a long time and we have ran plenty of contest with plenty of winners. Its our policy to directly pm the winners and not make a new post. For example we ran the tiggit itunes remote app giveaway with a promise of 5 winners. We have given out about 14 free codes as of right now to show our love and appreciation to our readers. We don’t need to make a post about that as we don’t do it for publicity. As per our record I believe it speaks for itself. We do not post fabrications or information we haven’t doubled or tripled checked.
Niko
winner is time minus selection. anything else doesn’t spread. Winners selection isn’t sorry – it’s misinformed. Eric, Lucas – peace is subliminal
It is more clear when names are given.
It is not because you have a lost site that you should attack honest people.
Some weeks ago you made a post entitled “THIS IS HOW THE NEXT BLACKBERRY X WILL LOOK LIKE ” then what: “well I think it will look like this”.
Do you take people for fools? Do you think it is not clear to every one that you want to attract people from “blackberry” google search??
I would have passed on that but it is clear that you don’t know how to stop yourself.
@ Micheal S : you’re right, now I don’t have a trust site to look on.
You’re really not making any sense here. Ah well, you’ll see soon enough.
Lucas any idea if the next ‘playbook’ will get a new power button. I own a 32 GB playbook and cannot wait till 2.0 (its killing me the wait) but the power button is retarded and a pain in the ass.
I know we talked about TAT cascades UI being put into these phones but what else do you expect to see that will bring BB back to the forefront and surpass the competition. They can’t always be catching up to the iphone, andriod devices they need something to be ahead. I really like galaxy Nexus panormic camera and face recognition, stuff like that i believe will help RIM.
My personal opinion is that if you don’t market the product well the average consumer (which isn’t in the know) will look past it as old blackberry when for sure you don’t want that.
Thanks for the dates, even if they aren’t 100%. Gives us thinks to look forward too and plan around, my contract is up in November and i’m looking hard at a new blackberry. Just need to decide OS7 or BB10
Hey Mitch, thanks for stopping by. While I was at CES, RIM asked my personal opinion on their marketing. I was straightforward with it, and I hope they listened. I’m not preaching that I know everything, but I’m sure most can agree their marketing hasn’t been the greatest.
They say experience is the best teacher. So, I’m hoping RIM has learned a lot from their mistakes. I also met with RIM’s VP for securing leading apps to the BlackBerry platform. You can expect to see Skype and much more in the near future.
I’m not aware of many other “innovative” things RIM may have up their sleeves besides the TAT Cascades, NFC, and continued support of the Webkit browser (it’s currently ranked the best in all mobile). We will see deep integration with the video chat throughout other native apps (contacts, email, etc) so maybe that will act as a launchpad for other cool features to take advantage of the front facing camera.
I use all leading mobile devices on a pretty regular basis…I’m just addicted to them all. While I haven’t been the most impressed with RIM, I certainly won’t rule out BlackBerry as a competitor…they’re definitely no where dead yet. Hope this helps lol.
I rarely use the power button… actually i don’t recall ever using it. if you want to shut down the playbook, you can press on the battery… it will give you the option to power off, restart… or standby. To me, the power button is like a reset button (which i think i used once since i own the playbook)
If the power button is a issue for you, you can buy a skin for yourPlayBook. It will increase the high of your power button while protecting your PlayBook.
Eric why don’t u stfu. If you won I’m sure he would have told you. He has his name all over this site, i’m sure he wouldn’t ruin his name over $1000 max
i purchased a PB in April and the power button was flush however PB’s I purchased in December are raised a bit but noticeable.
however with either device i have not had any issues
lol…hope it will be better OS in new…features…n adding more apps…
It’s developers who add apps, not RIM. Want more apps? Write them!
the playbook 2.0 os is actually a game changer with def. a lot more apps coming..stay tuned the news just started
I will buy this company, all the shares. They have to approach me and make me a good offer. i have spare cash, some $9,000 USD in the bank. approach me, RIM, and make me a good offer, I will spend on you and change the company for my benefit
What going on guys. I just want to say that this site has grown to be one of my favs. Lucas and Niko you guys have done an outstanding job with the site.
My question for you guys is this, with OS 2 and all the new features that RIM has managed to put in it, do you think that the PB will be able to really compete with the likes of the iPad, and the sausage fest of android tabs out there? And do you think the UI changes that was made will really were needed or was this just something that they did to show that there is a change at first glance? I think that they could have done with out the UI changes, I really liked the tabbed approached, and just added the new features. The one thing I think they should have done was add the remove tab like they have with bb 7 devices, this way they stay closely related or tied together. Anywho thanks again for the great site and all that you guys do.
Thanks for being a reader
. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of PlayBook OS 2.0′s UI either. But I still believe it can be a very good competitor. It is still the only FiPS certified tablet. Business should be eating the PlayBook up. Once RIM releases PlayBook OS 2.0 and continues to get top tier apps such as Skype and many more, the PlayBook will be a solid tablet.
I’m surprised with the response to the OS 2.0 UI changes. For those whom I’ve spoken to about the dev beta upgrade, it was easily their favourite change: an ever-present favourites bar, with the ease of grouping things .. well, like they do on their iPhones.
As a side note, the PB is a rare device for RIMM as the primary buyer is *not* an existing BB owner, despite what the marketing has been geared towards re: Bridge .. so that sort of UX familiarity is important in building trust for new users.
are u serious that skype will be available on playbook ?? that would be awesome id it really happens.
Typing this on a Torch, love it, getting a 9900 soon and will buy the London or whatever BB10 device that comes out. Been using playbook for a month and love it. Stoked for 2.0. Amazing device. Power button on playbook no issue with otter defender case! Best case out there! Really would like to see a flash on next playbooks it really needs it. Pictures inside look grainy! Overall BB rules and lots of people still use and love’em! Everyone else can band wagon jump and get an IOS device! My kid love his IPOD cause that’s what it is, a kid’s gaming portable!