Research In Motion faces an uphill battle in a tablet market that is not only filled with consumers crazy for Apple‘s iPad but also with business users who already carry laptops and whose bosses look for productivity.
The BlackBerry maker is launching its PlayBook tablet in Canada today at a number of retail chains like Sears, Future Shop and Staples and has already said a number of blue chip companies will be trying it out.
“I think for businesses that want a tablet and want security, the PlayBook will be welcome,” said Rory Altman, a director at the consulting group Altman Vilandrie & Company.
But Altman said he’s not convinced that business users need the PlayBook, or any tablet, until they learn how to use it in a way that improves efficiency, cuts costs or improves sales.
“The real question is will enterprises determine that the PlayBook is really going to improve productivity in the workplace,” Altman said from Boston.
The iPad leads the tablet market by far and Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) received mostly lukewarm reviews when it launched the PlayBook last week in the United States.
Analyst Matthew Robison said businesses will wait to use the PlayBook if they don’t have a “pressing” reason.
“They are not a must-have for most people in business,” said Robison of Wunderlich Securities in San Francisco.
But they are “compelling” for professionals in the life sciences field and others who need to do presentations, have a device with a long battery life and want access to corporate information, Robison said.
A major knock against the PlayBook that will affect consumer and corporate users is not having direct access to their e-mail, contacts or calendar without using a BlackBerry smartphone and downloading the BlackBerry Bridge app to do so.
“Anyone who intends to use a tablet independently needs those functions,” said PC Magazine mobile analyst Sascha Segan.
RIM has said that problem will be fixed and it will release subsequent generations of the PlayBook that will run on advanced wireless networks.
The current PlayBook uses WiFi networks to get an internet connection, eliminating the need for a data plan with a wireless carrier.
Segan said he doesn’t expect consumers to line up to buy the PlayBook, noting a lack of software applications that define the iPad.
“What people have been conditioned to expect, especially with the iPad, is a tablet with lots and lots of apps,” said Segan, managing editor of PCMag Mobile in New York.
“The iPad was a much more finished product when it came out.”
Segan said he feels like the PlayBook has been “rushed” to market though RIM will have several months to improve it.
“But RIM’s enterprise customers tend to take a very long view and three months does not really mean a lot to a big enterprise customer, so they may be willing to wait three months if it’s more finished then.”
