BlackBerry PlayBook Has No Built-In Email or Calendaring

Matt Buchanan:

The question is: Who, besides BlackBerry users, is going to want to buy it? The core email and calendar apps are completely tethered to a BlackBerry. Without your BlackBerry, there is no native email or calendar app—just access through the (admittedly good) web browser.

Here’s my question. Is RIM doing it this way simply as a stop-gap measure? I.e., perhaps they want to get this to market as fast as possible, and requiring a tethered BlackBerry for email and calendaring saved them time. In that scenario, eventually, the PlayBook will have built-in email and calendaring and won’t require a tethered BlackBerry phone for anything. If so, this strikes me as a reasonable 1.0 compromise.

Or, does RIM actually think this is a good idea? If so, they’re lost.

★ Friday, 7 January 2011