Well the verdict is out and the “experts” have weighed in…the PlayBook – not so impressive. Or that’s the story according to The Street.com‘s Scott Moritz who wrote up a summary report quoting the likes of Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan, NYTimes Tech David Pogue, and others basically stating the inherent negatives of a review device that wasn’t set to market standards.
All-in-all, I blame RIM for sending out a half baked device to the likes of these snobby reviewers, whom – to their anticipation – couldn’t wait to throw stones.
At least that’s what I thought until I headed over to CrackBerry.com and checked out their review. It wasn’t bad, but I can’t say it was the glorified review I had expected. I give much props to CB Kevin and his unbiased opinion (to which he doesn’t get enough credit for exercising), but I am really starting to think RIM really blew their chance to impress these “industry professionals” by presenting a product that really wasn’t meant to hit the public eye.
RIM has to clue in to the fact that if it’s not yet ready for consumers, it’s probably not going to get great marks amongst the elite crowd of individuals they decided to send review units to. But on the other side of the coin, it leaves me wondering whether or not the PlayBook will actually suffer the same fate as the handful of tablets that have seen release into the wild only to figuratively “blow a .08 at the DUI checkpoint” and fall into obscurity – yes, even with several millions of dollars pushed into advertising campaigns and the like.
So what does this tell me, or you, for that matter? It tells me that I want to get this thing and see for myself because then and only then will I truly see what others see. I am not the type to live vicariously through the eyes of these bloggers, and I urge each and every one of you to feel the same – that is if you can afford to, of course.
In the end, the PlayBook will come to market and in roughly 5 days we will be able to gauge what the overall response of the loyal tech consumer-ship will be. Until then, we wait.