Has RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook Met an Early Demise?

RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook tablet arrived in the market only a few days ago, but it seems that its time in store shelves will be a short lived memory. The manufacturer was visibly eager to set foot in the tablet market and it appears that the over enthusiasm is going to cost them dearly, as the early reviews garnered by the product have been incredibly negative.

And one can’t blame the critics for lambasting the Playbook, as for some strange reason, RIM chose not to include a default e-mail application with it. The Playbook is also missing basic tablet necessities like contacts and calendar applications, while its app selection has also been criticised extensively by the experts.

All the deficiencies mean that elite US wireless carriers are beginning to ignore the much maligned tablet, in a move that could very well prove to be the fatal blow for this latest RIM offering. The first sign of carriers’ changing behaviour came when AT&T decided to discontinue the BlackBerry Bridge application- an email managing software, which is critical for the Playbook, since it does not have a built in email app.

RIM has realised the blunder and has vowed to pre-install an email app in the next batch, which is supposed to come out before the end of 2011, but analysts are of the opinion that it might be a bit too late to revive the fortunes of a product, which would have amassed a lot of bad reputation until then.

RIM had been pretty excited in the past about the Playbook’s prospects of making it to Verizon’s 4G network, but now Verizon also looks tentative in adding an ailing product to its collection. A carrier’s representative recently told Reuters that they are still assessing the tablet and are not in a position to disclose whether they will distribute the product or not.

To add to RIM’s woes, the sharp looking tablet has also been blocked by Hulu from getting access to its streamable content according to industry experts, this could turn out to be the final nail in the BlackBerry Playbook tablet’s coffin.