My Continuing Half-Hearted Attempts to Buy a PlayBook, or Not

I thought I finally had dismissed the idea of purchasing the PlayBook and then Lazaridis (the CEO with some tricks up his white sleeve,) announced today at BlackBerry World in Orlando, that the PlayBook has some enhancements coming. Chris Umiastowski of the Globe and Mail reported on some of the new features here.

RIM has also joined up with Adobe and Bing for some integration on their new devices: Globe article from today

Where does that leave me? Well I have to say I am intrigued by their efforts. Lazaridis claims the number of apps available at launch exceeded what the iPad had available at launch (in fact greater number of apps than any other tablet. The BIG NEWS seems to say that even Rovio likes RIM and soon businessmen will be launching birds at pigs all over the world.

Is RIM losing its way or have they finally found it? Their market projections seem to suggest they are being realistic given the number of players and the market stresses, but the new way they wear their hat seems to suggest they are flexible and a force to be reckoned with once they decide the consumer/business mix. Maybe they finally noticed all of those high school students with BlackBerrys who don’t care about security and want to play games. The Bing-thing and the joinder with Adobe Creative Suite bodes well for RIM and having Balmer in your corner can’t hurt.

Now if only I can get my device OS upgraded to thwart the attempts of my provider to usurp my unlimited data plan, I will acquire a PlayBook (which should have been called a BlackPad,) and I will data squander to my heart’s content.

Did I mention the new integrated email too?

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UFC, Blackberrys, Macs, oh my!

This is my own opinion and not the opinion of my employer.

OK, let me start by observing that the Law Society of Upper Canada has just finished its Bencher election. The Benchers for the governing body that runs the self-governing organization that licenses lawyers and paralegals in Ontario, and protects the public. The stats will undoubtedly show around 25-30% of the 40,000 eligible lawyers voted in this election, about an average turnout. Given the impact the LSUC has on ALL lawyers you would think more would vote, especially since it was an online vote this year for the first time! How simple is that?

Read an interesting article with a heavy Mac bias that “explained” why PlayBook and other devices failed against the iPhone/iPad juggernaut. I have written about this before but the article makes a few good points including the conservative nature of the PlayBook and the lack of security even with the lip service paid to it. Why did RIM talk to IS/IT people when they are never the users and notoriously. . .boring. I use Lotus Notes at my workplace because the tech people think its least vulnerable from a security perspective!?

I didn’t mean to digress, I meant to ask how long will the “slow to adopt Android” RIM device be around? I have a 2 year old BlackBerry device and it won’t synch with a PlayBook and won’t upgrade to the lastest OS to enable it to do so – how ridiculous is that? Now RIM is talking OS7. Didn’t we just open OS6?

Its UFC night in Toronto. Its interesting because Ontario struggled with keeping the MMA/UFC out of the province for years and then finally buckled under the money…er…pressure. This is a stadium event with a 55,000 person attendance at the Rogers Centre. Timely article in the Toronto Star about brain injury and mixed martial arts fighters.

Last thing of note – I will be photographing the League of Rock event Friday, May 6th in aid of the Lawyers Feed the Hungry program – its $25 for tickets or $35 at the door and its for a great cause!

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