No mention of BlackBerry 10 update for PlayBook at BB10 launch

News Richard Goodwin 06:43, 31 Jan 2013

There was lots of big news at the BlackBerry 10 launch — two new handsets, a name change, and lots of guest speakers — but no mention of the PlayBook

RIM, now known as BlackBerry, unveiled its brand new mobile OS to world yesterday. Called BlackBerry 10, the new QNX-based platform launched alongside two brand new handsets – the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10 – and a palpable sense of optimism.

It was a big day all round and expectation was high – very high, in fact – but thankfully Thorsten and Co. did not disappoint. And within the space of two short hours we’d learnt that RIM was now known as BlackBerry, saw two new handsets, got a detailed overview of how Heins’ has restructured the BlackBerry business during the past 12 months, and, of course, saw plenty of BlackBerry 10 demos.

Check out our Live Blog of the event here for a beat-by-beat break down of what happened.

One thing missing, however, was any mention of when the company’s PlayBook tablet would be getting updated to BlackBerry 10. Heins did not mention the PlayBook once during his keynote. And there was no Q&A session after.

The BlackBerry 10 update for the PlayBook is definitely coming, a BlackBerry spokesperson told Know Your Mobile – it’s just not known when. And, annoyingly, RIM doesn't seem too keen on divulging any sort of roll-out schedule anytime soon.

The PlayBook 64GB version is now available for as little as £130 in the UK, making it one of the most affordable tablet devices on the planet – even more so when compared to Apple’s 16GB iPad 4, which costs £399.

Couple that price with the fact that BlackBerry 10 is coming to the PlayBook at some point this year, and what you’re looking at is a very compelling tablet proposition. No wonder it’s selling faster than the iPad at some UK retailers.