Two days shy of a month since its release in the US, the Blackberry Playbook has finally been given a UK release date and price by both The Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy.
The Carphone Warehouse has listed the 7-inch QNX tablet online just this minute, with prices starting at £399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model. The 32GB Wi-Fi model costs £479 and the 64GB costs £559. You might have already cottoned on, but all prices match those of the iPad 2 in the UK, so RIM are going into direct competition with Apple.
Best Buy UK have also put a page up to register your interest for the Playbook, and confirmed in a press release that the tablet will come in at the same prices as those listed by The Carphone Warehouse. There’s still no word on the availability of a Wi-Fi and 3G model, though we anticipate seeing the Playbook available on a 3G contract basis from The Carphone Warehouse within a month of the Wi-Fi only model’s release.
Graham Stapleton, Chief Commercial Officer for The Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy, said: “The BlackBerry brand is already highly regarded amongst our customers who are looking for excellent smartphones, and I expect BlackBerry PlayBook to be just as popular. The product packs in some fantastic features within a handy travel-friendly size and I’m sure will be well-received. With its speed, HD-capabilities and impressive multitasking BlackBerry Playbook has the potential to impact the tablet market in a significant way.”
Interestingly, clicking on the banner for the Playbook on The Carphone Warehouse’s website takes you straight to the iPad 2 info page. We’re sure this will get fixed, but for the time being it’s fairly amusing to think eager Blackberry fans will be directed to look at rival Apple’s product.
Source: Carphone Warehouse