We have recently written about the iPad 2 tablet device (iPad2 - could taking a tablet be good for your business?) and how it could benefit your business. However, there are already many rival tablets on the market and more in the pipeline.
One of the most eagerly anticipated is the BlackBerry PlayBook. It was announced a few months ago and the features it claims could make it a serious player. Reviews have been very good from the people who have had the device to look at.
With BlackBerry's reputation as a manufacturer for business users the BlackBerry PlayBook might be the best choice for your business looking for a mobile tablet device.
However, BlackBerry's new tablet, like many of their recent phones, also offers a rich, multimedia experience suited to non-business consumers. With HD video, HD display, stereo sound and support for Flash (unlike the iPad). It also has built-in support for HTML 5 and no-compromise rendering of text, graphics and video.
The screen size is 7" (multi-touch LCD display, 1024 x 600 resolution), and it weighs in at a lightweight 400g. Like the iPad 2 it offers two cameras - a 3 MP high-definition forward-facing camera and a 5 MP high-definition rear-facing camera.
Add to this codec support for superior media playback, creation and video calling, 1080p HD video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV HDMI video output and Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports. It's powerful too - with 1 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB RAM and symmetric multi-processing. It offers multi-processing for true multitasking.
For existing BlackBerry phone users it enables you to wirelessly connect to your BlackBerry smartphone for real time access to email, calendar, address book, task list and BBM. It also offers excellent connectivity - 3G network access using your BlackBerry smartphone as a modem, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR.
Business users also get:
Out-of-the-box compatibility with BlackBerry Enterprise Server
Seamless pairing for a secure window into your BlackBerry smartphone
Corporate data access
Secure and manageable
You will have access to all of the BlackBerry World apps, many of which are business focussed, and there are also rumours that it might be possible to run up to 130,000 Android apps on the PlayBook at some point in the future.
As yet there is no official UK release date (or pricing) for the BlackBerry PlayBook but we are expecting it very soon. We have already seen many business users integrate the iPad into their business and expect to see many others looking at adding the PlayBook to their network of mobile devices.