RIM announced that their new Playbook OS 2.0 will be available for download today and it could not come at a better time as some of RIM’s customers have either dropped them or are planning to.
The new Playbook OS 2.0 main focus is to offer their customers a richer and compelling user experience for work and play. Time will tell if they will succeed in this endeavor, but with today’s almost instantaneous feedback from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube, RIM will definitely be able to a get quick assessment of the attitudes of the different online communities of whether the Playbook OS 2.0 is a success or failure.
According to RIM’s press release here are the new Playbook OS 2.0 new features:
New BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 features include:
- Integrated email client with a powerful unified inbox: With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 you have the option to use a unified inbox that consolidates all messages in one place, including messages from Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter®, as well as personal and work email accounts.
- Social Integration with Calendar and Contacts apps: The built-in calendar harnesses information from social networks and makes it available where and when users need it. Contact cards are also dynamically populated with updated information from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to create a consolidated view of contacts.
- Updated BlackBerry Bridge app: BlackBerry® Bridge™ is a unique app that provides a Bluetooth® connection between your BlackBerry PlayBook and core apps on your BlackBerry® smartphone (including BBM™, Email, Contacts, Calendar, and Browser) in order to let you view the content on the larger tablet display. With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, it’s easier and quicker than ever to take documents, web pages, emails and photos that appear on your BlackBerry smartphone and display them on your BlackBerry PlayBook for an optimized viewing and editing experience. The updated BlackBerry Bridge app also provides a new remote control feature that allows a BlackBerry smartphone to be used as a wireless keyboard and mouse for a BlackBerry PlayBook.
- Improved mobile productivity: Updated document editing functions, the new Print To Go app, and increased control and manageability of corporate data with BlackBerry® Balance ™ allow you to get more out of your BlackBerry PlayBook every day. Plus, an updated virtual keyboard with auto-correction and predictive next word completion learns how you type to enable faster, more accurate typing.
- New apps and content: Thousands of new apps are being added to BlackBerry App World™ today (including a range of Android® apps that will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook). A new BlackBerry Video Store1 is launching today. Enhanced web browsing capabilities are also available with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.
However, to give RIM’s credit for their new strategy of online engagement, especially with their new CEO talking to Youtube four weeks ago and introducing himself to the world, RIM’s online media campaign has not gone unnoticed. If RIM continues to engage with their customers with exciting messages and deliver their products and services on time, we could see a turnaround in the very near future.
As we have written here at Leaf Magazine that their strategy to reduce the price of their Playbook to around $200 was a good move on their part and that has started to show results already as more people are buying the device and more will buy as it is a better value at that price-point than their competitors, the Apple’s iPad or Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.
