“RIM will no longer be making the 16 GB model of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The 16 GB PlayBook will continue to be available for distributors and retailers while quantities last. (…) There is more value for our customers in the higher capacity models (32 GB, 64 GB), and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here,” said RIM in a statement.
Engadget thinks this might be due to the lower profit margins on the 16 GB version, but we can think of another reason for the change — a shift away from the consumer market. The 16 GB model costs ($174 in some places) roughly half as much at the 64 GB one ($300). Price-conscious consumers might have opted for the lower end model.
This would be in line with RIM’s new CEO, Thorsten Heins, announcement from March. RIM “cannot succeed by trying to be everybody’s darling,” Heins said. Instead, it would shift its focus on its core strengths — enterprise devices and services.
RIM’s PlayBook wasn’t a tremendously successful product, but with more than one million sold, it wasn’t a total fluke either. By dropping the cheapest variant, and with BlackBerry 10 around the corner, it seems that RIM will try to push a robust, enterprise-friendly tablet instead of fighting with the Kindle, Nook and iPad 2 for the mass consumer market.
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