An employee holds a Blackberry Playbook tablet at the Research in Motion (RIM) annual meeting in Waterloo, Ontario, July 12, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Chidley
August 02, 2012 - 11:02 AM
WATERLOO, Ont. - Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) is launching its new BlackBerry tablet computer for high-speed, next-generation networks next week — starting in Canada first.
RIM's latest PlayBook tablet is designed for wireless networks with speeds equivalent to high-speed home Internet services on land lines.
The company says the 4G LTE PlayBook tablet will be available Aug. 9 at Rogers (TSX:RCI.B), Bell (TSX:BCE) and Telus (TSX:T) — Canada's three largest carriers.
RIM says the new PlayBook is also ready for corporate email systems and keeps business information secure and separate from personal information.
The original PlayBook was launched in April 2011 but sales have been slow and RIM has discounted some of the models amid stiff competition.
The PlayBook has largely been overshadowed by Apple's iPad as well as tablets from Samsung and others using Google's Android operating system.
Research In Motion is also preparing to bring out the next generation of its smartphones, known as the BlackBerry 10 — currently due out in early 2013.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012