RIM confirms ‘big’ PlayBook update for October

RIM has confirmed that it’ll be squeezing out a big PlayBook update in October, bringing Android support, Video Store and native email and calendar applications to the QNX-powered tablet device.

It’s the one a lot of people – well, the 700,000 that actually bought PlayBook devices – have been waiting for. RIM confirmed the good news via a conference call regarding its sub-par Q2 earnings, which saw profits nosedive 47 per cent.

‘The update, due in October,’ says Pocket-Lint, ‘would include the long promised native email, calendar, and contacts as well as the Android App Player and BlackBerry Balance; all previously promised for the summer.’

Also bundled inside the update is RIM’s Video Store, which gives users access to over 12,000 films that can be ported to their TV set via the PlayBook’s HDMI output.

Will this be enough, though? Can RIM actually coax away potential tablet buyers from Apple and Google? We’re not convinced. RIM’s bread-and-butter has always been enterprise, but now they’re all using Apple. In fact, from what we’ve seen RIM’s new bread-and-butter is the budget handset market – and that’s only because of its BBM service.  

RIM’s co-CEO has confirmed that a price-cut is coming, but we still aren’t sure whether this will be enough to save the sinking ship that is the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Yet, despite all of the above – we absolutely love the device and, despite its shortcomings (no native email, calendar or decent applications), we thoroughly rate the product. If the iPad, Google Honeycomb and Samsung didn’t exist, RIM would be on to a winner with the PlayBook.

Unfortunately this isn’t the case and, as each month passes by, it seems more and more evident that the PlayBook is almost destined to fail – especially with devices like the Galaxy Tab 10.1, HTC Puccini and Windows 8 on the way.