Blackberry unveils iPad rival ‘Playbook’

Blackberry maker Research In Motion unveiled its much anticipated tablet computer that it hopes will challenge Apple’s iPad .


The tablet, named BlackBerry PlayBook, has a seven-inch screen and dual facing cameras.
The device also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but needs to link with a BlackBerry smart phone to access the mobile network.
“It’s ultra-mobile and it’s ultra-thin,” co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis told the developers, who responded with intermittent applause. “PlayBook delivers a no-compromises web experience,” he said.
PlayBook can mirror a BlackBerry phone, giving users a bigger screen to view media and edit documents, and wipes all corporate data once the link between the two devices is broken.
The PlayBook weighs 400 grams. It will launch with a dual-core, one gigahertz processor running a QNX kernel and operating system that can incorporate BlackBerry OS 6, which RIM introduced in its Torch smart phone in August.
RIM expects to ship the device to corporate customers and developers in October. It will become commercially available early in 2011.
RIM has yet to set an exact price but says it will fall in the lower range of prices for consumer tablets already in the suddenly congested market.
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