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08-12-2011, 02:55 PM
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#1
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Appleinator
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: New Hampshire
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OS: AJBR549
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No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
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Waaaay back at CES in January, Sprint and RIM announced that they were cooking up a version of the BlackBerry Playbook that played friendly with Sprint’s 4G network. And then… nothing. Months went by, with nary a mention from either of the companies involved.
Alas, it looks like the Sprint 4G Playbook will be buried before it’s even born. Blaming a “lack of demand from business customers” (read: everybody who wants a tablet right now probably already has an iPad or a Xoom), Sprint has killed off plans to launch the device.
It’s unclear whether or not RIM will go on to sell a Sprint-friendly version of the tablet themselves, though it seems rather unlikely. Selling CDMA phones without the carrier’s support is tough enough — but an ultra niche object like a half-baked enterprise-focused tablet? Blyeck.
As the Wall Street Journal points out, this.. isn’t good news for RIM. Sprint was the one major carrier who was willing to back the Playbook — neither AT&T or Verizon wanted to have anything to do with it. While Sprint still offers the WiFi only version of the tablet, it doesn’t seem like they’re planning to stick by the Playbook for much longer. Nail, meet coffin.
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08-12-2011, 03:01 PM
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#2
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Grumpy Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Model: SGS7
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 27,948
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
And this should not come as a surprise to anyone.
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08-12-2011, 03:17 PM
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#3
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Magic Bananas
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Braselton, Georgia
Model: iP4S
OS: 5.1
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 2,350
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Yep. Unfortunate as I think the PlayBook is a great idea. But then there is the problem... I want a great BlackBerry tablet, not a tablet that could be great some time in the future.
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Ian
Semper Fi 3/2/2
"Wow" is now overused. Therefore, I will use "Magic bananas" instead.
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08-12-2011, 03:38 PM
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#4
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Grumpy Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Model: SGS7
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 27,948
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
One of the toughest words in the language is "potential". I think the PlayBook has potential. I realize others love it. I think it has potential.
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08-12-2011, 03:38 PM
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#5
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No longer Registered.
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: NJ
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Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 1,930
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
I predicted the Playbook would flop from the moment I heard it was in development.
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08-12-2011, 03:41 PM
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#6
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Grumpy Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
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Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 27,948
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Quite the oracle.
I'll remember to ask you before my next technology purchase.
NOT.
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08-12-2011, 03:42 PM
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#7
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No longer Registered.
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry
One of the toughest words in the language is "potential". I think the PlayBook has potential. I realize others love it. I think it has potential.
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Problem with RIM is, they simply don't understand the market. They did 5 years ago, but we have all moved on, RIM hasn't. The 2 stooges at the helm are the problem, time for a change.
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08-12-2011, 04:04 PM
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#8
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Stuck In The '70's Mod
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: The 'burbs east of Seattle.
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Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 7,600
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry
One of the toughest words in the language is "potential". I think the PlayBook has potential. I realize others love it. I think it has potential.
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I agree. I am more excited about what it could do than what it does today.
I'm a Seattle Mariner fan. I have had first-hand expereince with the toughness of "potential" every spring since 1976.
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1st Step in Troubleshooting: Do you have a BlackBerry Data Plan?
2nd Step in Troubleshooting: Pull the Battery.
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08-12-2011, 05:43 PM
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#9
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Grumpy Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Model: SGS7
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 27,948
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Browsing around, I read that RIM cancelled the WiMax Playbook.
That ranks as a Who Cares moment. WiMax has no legs. Or funding.
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08-13-2011, 12:48 PM
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#10
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No longer Registered.
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Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 1,930
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry
Browsing around, I read that RIM cancelled the WiMax Playbook.
That ranks as a Who Cares moment. WiMax has no legs. Or funding.
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I'm sure some Sprint users would disagree with you.
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08-13-2011, 01:06 PM
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#11
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Grumpy Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Model: SGS7
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 27,948
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Sprint is way too busy blasting the AT&T/T-Mobile merger (we know how well Sprint handles mergers, ask any Nextel customer) and they don't have the funds to complete the WiMax rollout. They continue to lose their best (postpaid/contract) customers and are marketing to more prepaid customers which are less profitable.
You haven't switched to Sprint, have you? You fickle consumer..
Last edited by NJBlackBerry; 08-13-2011 at 01:07 PM..
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08-13-2011, 03:03 PM
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#12
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CrackBerry Addict
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Model: PRIV
OS: Android 6
Carrier: Rogers
Posts: 523
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
I'm not a tablet user myself but I have a PB for work.
This device has some great potential and I think half of RIM's problem is gettin developers on board.
Maybe developers see low user numbers and don't see it as a money making platform, maybe it's the development process and legal stuff... I don't know.
Playbook is great but the release was poor, the updates coming 'later on' are still not here, and now the 3G and 4G versions are not even going to make it to market because nobody cares.
They just took way too long to provide the needed features to make it a really nice device software and feature wise.
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Blackberry History
7250-> Curve 8320-> Bold 9000-> Bold 9700-> Torch 9800-> Bold 9900 + 16GB PlayBook-> BlackBerry Z10
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08-13-2011, 03:23 PM
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#13
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Latino Hasta La Muerte
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Denville, NJ.
Model: 9370
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 9,063
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry
Browsing around, I read that RIM cancelled the WiMax Playbook.
That ranks as a Who Cares moment. WiMax has no legs. Or funding.
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Sprint has already said they're moving to LTE. I'm considering a PlayBook, but WiFi-only like my iPad.
What concerns me about the PlayBook is the reliance on a tethered (or "Bridged") BlackBerry to get email. This smacks of the Palm Foleo, which was cancelled on the eve of it's launch.
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08-13-2011, 03:27 PM
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#14
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CrackBerry Addict
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Model: PRIV
OS: Android 6
Carrier: Rogers
Posts: 523
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Quote:
Originally Posted by rambo47
Sprint has already said they're moving to LTE. I'm considering a PlayBook, but WiFi-only like my iPad.
What concerns me about the PlayBook is the reliance on a tethered (or "Bridged") BlackBerry to get email. This smacks of the Palm Foleo, which was cancelled on the eve of it's launch.
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If you need access to exchange, yeah it's a bit of an annoyance.
gmail or anything web based works pretty well, and even outlook web access works fairly well so I'd say the 'reliance' isn't so bad.
It would be lovely to see this promised feature... they're at least 30 days (business days) late on this.
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Blackberry History
7250-> Curve 8320-> Bold 9000-> Bold 9700-> Torch 9800-> Bold 9900 + 16GB PlayBook-> BlackBerry Z10
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08-13-2011, 03:27 PM
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#15
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Grumpy Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Model: SGS7
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 27,948
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Rambo I share those sentiments. I only buy WiFi only devices (and use a MiFi like device) and think the reliance on bridged-only email is a fatal flaw which hasn't been corrected...
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08-13-2011, 04:42 PM
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#16
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Latino Hasta La Muerte
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Denville, NJ.
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Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 9,063
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
RIM has been promising stand-alone email for the PlayBook for some time now but it's still MIA.
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08-14-2011, 06:54 AM
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#17
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BlackBerry Extraordinaire
Join Date: Jan 2006
Model: LEZ10
OS: 10.0.10
Carrier: Rogers CA
Posts: 1,704
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
The rumour mill keeps saying they are trying to use their PIN based push mail delivery system but have to make significant changes. I suspect that if they rolled out a POP3/IMAP client most people would be happy with that.
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My other Blackberry is a PlayBook.
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08-14-2011, 07:43 AM
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#18
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iPhone Convert
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Tulip City - MI
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OS: 6.0.2
PIN: to beans
Carrier: I'm not
Posts: 13,878
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
At BlackBerry World this year (first week of May) Mike L. stood up and said the PlayBook would have an email client in 60 days.
Obviously he didn't mean 60 days from then.....
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No longer a BES Admin, but it was fun while it lasted!
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08-14-2011, 07:52 AM
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#19
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BlackBerry God
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Florida Panhandle
Model: BBPP
OS: 10.3.3
Carrier: T-Mobile USA
Posts: 14,081
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
Hopefully he didn't mean Biblical days.
It's one thing to be out of touch with consumers, which I don't really mind. But out of touch with your own company?
It's hard not to be embarrassed for him.
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08-15-2011, 08:10 PM
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#20
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Feb 2011
Model: 9860
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Carrier: Virgin Mobile Canada
Posts: 257
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Re: No Sprint 4G Playbook - no demand
RIM scrapped the playbook 2... Look in the BB News forum
A.
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