RIM's entry into the tablet market, the PlayBook, is set to arrive in the U.S. within the next few months, but there have been some concerns about how much success it'll see. Since the PlayBook relies on a BlackBerry smartphone to be tethered to it to perform certain functions, like calendar and contact management, some people are worried that sales of the tablet will suffer. RIM doesn't think that it'll matter much, though, telling Forbes that the PlayBook "is a great standalone tablet." The company did say that PIM-related features will eventually make it to the tablet, although they wouldn't give any sort of time frame for when that'll happen.
The PlayBook looks like a formidable tablet, but the fact that you need a BlackBerry to use all of the device's features seems kind of crazy. Sure, users will still be able to browse the web, download apps, etc, but not having access to a all of the PlayBook's features could limit its potential. It's good that RIM is planning to bring full functionality to the PlayBook without the need for a BlackBerry, I just hope that they don't wait too long. Otherwise, it may be too little, too late in the battle against Android, webOS, and the iPad.
