Has a RIM PlayBook Fire Sale Already Started?

Research in Motion's effort to kick-start poor PlayBook tablet sales may have already started with steep employee discounts being offered by RIM partner Rogers. The Canadian cell phone carrier is offering employees BlackBerry PlayBooks for up to 50 percent off in an internal sale, according to Boy Genius Report.


The Rogers employee sale kicked off on Sept. 14, according to a screenshot published by BGR on Friday. That's a day before RIM reported disappointing second-quarter results, punctuated by underwhelming shipment figures for the PlayBook and an unspecific pledge by RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis to offer rebates and other deals to get sales of the 7-inch tablet device moving.


RIM's difficulties and Lazaridis' promise to be proactive with the PlayBook have led to speculation that the Canadian smartphone-maker might drop prices for the tablet considerably, if not hold a fire sale along the lines of Hewlett-Packard's with its own TouchPad tablets.


The Rogers internal sale, which runs through Dec. 11, might offer a glimpse at what PlayBook price-slashing efforts might look like. The 16GB PlayBook, normally priced by Rogers at $ 499.99 Canadian or about $ 511 U.S., is now available to Rogers employees for just $ 249—a 50 percent discount. The 32GB tablet is available at $ 349, down from $ 599.99, and the 64GB model can be had for $ 399, down from $ 699.99.


RIM says it's still confident the PlayBook can make it in the market, and has a major software update planned for the tablet which could add native email, PIM, and other features that critics say the device should have had from the start.


But RIM only managed to ship 200,000 PlayBooks in its most recent quarter, well below expectations for how the tablet would be faring by now back when the company launched it to great fanfare in April. Instead, the PlayBook's missing ingredients and the powerful presence of Apple's iPad in the market seem to have pushed RIM's tablet to the brink of total failure.


Can RIM rescue the PlayBook? PCMag's lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan has some ideas for how the company can resuscitate its tablet and other parts of its struggling business, but if RIM can't turn the PlayBook's fortunes around soon, we could soon be looking at another tablet fire sale.