You know what? Google, Apple, and RIM could help themselves out a lot by allowing Root or Jailbreaking or whatever without needing to hack into the system ourselves. Just as an example, if users were able to get root on an android device by installing a certificate or entering a long string then there would be no reason for the people hacking the system to keep their methods a secret. They could do it and know that telling Google about the flaw wouldn’t mean they now have to find another way to get the same access. Why can’t these companies see this? People want to be able to do what they want with the device they purchased.

 RIM especially caters to the Enterprise consumer base, which puts a high premium on security and stability.

So to them any vulnerabilities are a threat to providing that security reliably to avoid things like corporate espionage, etc.

Other companies do it for similar reasons like extra protection for things like DRM to prevent piracy and other concerns.

Problem is many in the industry are a bit paranoid about how possibly ineffective existing security measures are for ARM based devices and that tends to push arguably a little overkill on devices that shouldn’t need that level of security.  Though some are willing to allow it under certain conditions but at user risk.

This is why RIM doesn’t sell many Playbooks at all.

 I would disagree, much of the issues with the Playbook was bad marketing, lack of a developed app ecosystem, lack of accessories, initial handicapping by tying certain functions to requiring use of a Blackberry phone, and the initial pricing that left many to wonder on the investment cost compared to more well known tablet makers.

While security is generally consider a good thing and most people never jailbreak or root their devices.

Many of the issues have now been solved with the lower pricing and OS 2.0 update but it remains to be seen if this is too little too late or not.  Though it means at least the Playbook has a fighting chance in the market but still needs to get past a lot of the negative pre-conceptions many people have developed about it and the fact it’s no longer a top of the line product for 2012.

 The 2.0 OS update does allow running of Android apps, they’re just run like regular PB apps instead of in a separate VM like app, and the list of officially accepted apps is just limited because not all apps will work and RIM is filtering what will through their app store.

However, there are apps that can be side loaded and there are topics showing how to do so on sites like crackberry, etc. along with lists user experiences on what apps work and whether any are still buggy and may be better to wait for a official PB release.

In terms of speed, I think that may be a issue with your unit or the way you’re using it because I’ve used it on my dad’s PB and it’s given neither him or me any issues.  While my Android apps are usually more problematic.

The web browser especially is much better than the browsers I’ve tried on either iOS or Android devices. I can even go to Amazon Instant video and log into my Prime account to watch the available free videos or purchase and watch anything in their collection.

While Zinio is a known problematic app for now, they themselves said they will have to continue to improve the app for the PB.  Though some consumer feedback indicates they have some issues providing a bug free app on any platform.