LESS?THAN?A?MONTH after launching its BlackBerry Playbook, Research in Motion (RIM) is seeking to penetrate the Caribbean market with that tablet as early as summer.
Arno Glompner, RIM’s corporate communications manager for the Caribbean region, described the tablet as “robust” during an interview with BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY and said it would make personal computers “redundant” in the near future.
“That is an addition to our Smartphones portfolio. It is to make notebooks (PCs) redundant. That is the plan . . .
“What we are trying to make available to the consumer or the business user is a highly professional tablet that makes the notebook redundant.
“You would not need to walk with a heavy notebook anymore,” he said.
Glompner said they were currently in discussions with relevant players in the local and regional market. The BlackBerry Playbook is the first mobile computing device from RIM.
“We don’t have exact dates because we will have to establish a proper channel for it. We have to speak to distributors, computer retailers, and retailer stores. And once this is established, and we are working on this, hopefully in summer. That is all I can say.
“We are having discussions about our distribution channel and you will see details soon. So we are rolling it out in Barbados hopefully this summer,” Glompner said.
Based on his assessment so far, he said, Barbadians were very much interested in smartphones and new technologies.
“Our solution is built for ambitious people and I can see trends in Barbados for people being well connected and there is a high penetration for people wanting to be connected and want to get their work done,” he pointed out.
Glompner, who is based in Florida, said they were already getting favourable response in the United States and were already working on newer versions of the tablet to be released by the end of the year, some of which will be tailored specifically for some countries.
The BlackBerry Bold 9300 and 9900 were also launched last month and are expected to be available in the region by year-end. (MM)
