Yesterday, we heard a rumor claim that the BlackBerry PlayBook's launch date had finally been confirmed for April 10th, but it turns out that the QNX-powered tablet may end up coming even sooner. RIM employee Steven Bates recently sat down with Pocket-lint to talk about his company's upcoming slate, and when asked for information on a launch date, Bates said, "It’s end of Q1 for the US.”
The first quarter will come to a close at the end of this month, so if the PlayBook is indeed coming by the end of Q1, we should be hearing some concrete launch info within the next week or two. With the Motorola XOOM out now and the iPad 2 and G-Slate looming, though, it'll be interesting to see how consumers react to the PlayBook when it arrives. What do you all think of the PlayBook? Does it have what it takes to stand up against competition from iOS and Android?
UPDATE: The PlayBook was just put up for pre-order at MobileCity for $599.99. There's no details about a launch date to be found, but it seems safe to assume that it'll be arriving sooner rather than later.
Via Pocket-lint, MobileCity