About 1 000 BlackBerry PlayBooks have been recalled in the US. In a statement, Research in Motion (RIM) said the devices had a faulty build of the QNX operating system (OS).
The PlayBooks have been recalled from Staples stores and, according to reports, the majority of devices were still in distribution and only a few had already gone out to customers. Only the 16GB model was affected.
The PlayBook runs on a QNX OS, called the BlackBerry Tablet OS. According to QNX, its operating systems have been proven in everything from the space station and the world's highest capacity router, to millions of in-car systems.
In the statement from RIM regarding the recall, the company says the devices were shipped with an OS build that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up.
Sales set-backs
The PlayBook is competing against the iPad and Android Honeycomb tablets, and has already suffered from poor initial reviews. Reviewers heavily criticised the PlayBook for its over-dependence on BlackBerry phones - not having its own e-mail or calendar functions.
RIM did, however, demonstrate native e-mail, contacts and calendar applications at BlackBerry World earlier this month. Despite its flaws, the tablet has been praised for its multitasking and multimedia-richness.
Following the disappointing launch of the PlayBook, RIM lowered its near-term financial outlook due to product delays, and company shares dropped as a result.
Guessing game
RIM is yet to release any official sales figures; however, analysts have estimated that approximately 50 000 PlayBooks were sold on their first day of release and about 500 000 could be sold before the end of this month.
If such estimates prove to be correct, the PlayBook's launch would have been more successful than that of the Motorola Xoom or the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
The PlayBook is yet to be released in SA, but MTN has said it is expecting to have the device in stores in June. The local retail prices are still to be determined.
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