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In the market for a 7 inch BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet? You won’t find one at Walmart, Best Buy, or Staples. The folks at Computer World noticed that a number of US retailers are no longer offering the tablet from Canadian phone maker Research in Motion.
You can still pick one up from RIM’s BlackBerry Store. And some retailers, including Buy.com and Amazon
But the move by other retailers to stop offering the tablet could be a sign that a new model is on the way… perhaps with a larger and/or higher resolution display, a faster processor, or other improvements.
Or it could just be a sign that the tablets aren’t selling very well, even at deeply discounted prices.
RIM charged $500 and up when the company first started selling PlayBook tablets in early 2011. But the company has slashed prices several times since then. You can now pick up a 16GB model for less than $200.
New, used, and refurbished models are going for even less on eBay.
Whether or not the original PlayBook tablet may be on the way out, RIM is continuing to support the platform. The company recently released PlayBook OS 2.1 with improved support for Android apps and new BlackBerry Bridge features which let you pair your tablet with a BlackBerry smartphone to send and read SMS messages and perform other functions on the tablet’s larger screen.
RIM also recently introduced the PlayBook 4G LTE in Canada. It has a faster processor than the original, and support for 4G LTe mobile broadband.
via Engadget