RIM cut prices of Playbook: stock still not moving

Research In Motion have struggled to sell their BlackBerry Playbook. This hasn't been helped by networking issues in recent months, and the news that they won't be updating their software anytime soon.

RIM have tried to push sales, by cutting the price of the tablet, but channel partners claim that sales are still sluggish. In the US, Playbook prices were cut by $200 to help shift huge stock levels.

In the UK, PC World and Currys have cut the prices by £150 on both the 16Gb and 32GB models. The Register reported that sales were still exceptionally poor for all versions of the tablet.

Kitguru did a little investigating last night, checking with Phone4U, Best Buy and CarPhone Warehouse. We were told by a sales manager that stock was not moving at all, even when actively promoting the tablet in store with hands on demonstrations and promotions. Most people seem to be interested in the iPad 2 and have no desire to buy a Playbook.

With the high profile news of email and instant messaging services going down the pan for several days, it would appear that customer faith in the company is at an all time low. Price cuts don't seem to be working.

Kitguru says: RIM need to do something radical to push the tablet, but we wonder if it just too little, too late.

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