[cavalcade]

From RIM's marketing and positioning, Playbook was a companion device for the Blackberry and aimed squarely at the iPad. So in that POV, the playbook was for the people who already had email and bbm.

I think the high developer friction (poor tools, poor stores, etc.) and the wrong direction were among the bigger problems.

[commandar]

>So in that POV, the playbook was for the people who already had email and bbm.

I don't know a single person that uses a tablet that doesn't use it for email.

>I think the high developer friction (poor tools, poor stores, etc.) and the wrong direction were among the bigger problems.

You're looking at it from a technical perspective, and the Playbook's failure was a complete lack of demand from consumers. When the people that actually buy tablets react to your marketing strategy with "that's stupid" and in turn refuse to buy your device, it doesn't matter if you have the best developer tools in the world; you've still set yourself up for failure.

[cavalcade]

>So in that POV, the playbook was for the people who already had email and bbm.

>I don't know a single person that uses a tablet that doesn't use it for email.

Didn't say it CANNOT do email. webmail and email apps were welcome, and i didn't say that it wasnt a mistake (it was) but i think RIM went for an MVP (BB style email must've had a big time-to-market cost) to get to market faster.

>I think the high developer friction (poor tools, poor stores, etc.) and the wrong direction were among the bigger problems.

>You're looking at it from a technical perspective, and the Playbook's failure was a complete lack of demand from consumers. When the people that actually buy tablets react to your marketing strategy with "that's stupid" and in turn refuse to buy your device, it doesn't matter if you have the best developer tools in the world; you've still set yourself up for failure.

We are on the same page (hence the "direction") part. Playbook was a misguided attempt, instead of zagging. it wen t and battled with iPad squarely without the 10x improvement or any unfair advantage.

In summation, i think the rank of problem of RIM's tablet strategy are: 1st: Wrong angle of attack, 2nd: platform friction , (close)3rd: key features weren't in the MVP.