After sluggish sales and continuing steep drops in market share, there’s only one thing can save the Blackberry Playbook.
Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed this week that price cuts are part of the company’s plan to stir interest in the failing Playbook tablet device.
However, he didn’t specify how cheap the device would become, saying only that there will be specific discounts for individual customers.
RIM had hoped to ship as many as 700,000 Playbook tablets in the most recent quarter, but it missed that goal by a large margin. The company reported only shipping 200,000.
The new version of the Playbook is expected to be unveiled later this year. While the device actually received some favorable reviews, many were frustrated with the fact that it requires a Blackberry phone to be tethered in order to unlock all the standard features.
The software that powers the Playbook, QNX, will be heading to the new line of Blackberry phones last year, which could ignite new interest in both the Blackberry and Playbook product lines.