BlackBerry PlayBook gets software upgrade
Research in Motion(RIM) released a software update for its PlayBook tablet on Tuesday, hoping to give a new lease of life to the less fancied Blackberry product.
RIM's PlayBook 2.0 software, unveiled last month, added an in-built email function to the device, addressing what critics said was a big shortcoming of the original version, unveiled in April to scathing reviews, according to Reuters.
It also gives the tablet the ability to run applications written for devices powered by Google's Android operating system, a tacit acknowledgement by the company that developers have not created enough RIM-specific apps.
The device, which runs on RIM's new QNX-based operating system, sets the blueprint for the first QNX-based BlackBerrys, due to be inaugurated toward the end of this year.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company hopes the upgrade will lead developers to create more apps for QNX before the launch of the new BlackBerrys, something that analysts consider crucial if RIM hopes to make up lost ground to devices made by Apple and those powered by Android.
RIM sold just 850,000 PlayBooks to the end of November, and was forced to slash prices on the tablet. By comparison Apple Inc sold 15.4 million iPad tablets in its latest quarter.
