Blackberry Playbook update delayed until next year

Research In Motion haven't had a very memorable 2011, unless you factor in lower than expected sales and networking issues. The latest news will cause an uproar among customers as it appears that the ill fated Playbook tablet will not be getting a much needed software update until next year.

David Smith of RIM issued the following statement “As much as we'd love to have it in your hands today, we've made the difficult decision to wait to launch BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers and end-users.”

This will come as little comfort to people who have adopted the tablet early, because the product has came under fierce criticism for the lack of an email client and some stability issues. Sales have been less than impressive so far, with Apple and other Android tablets taking up the bulk of market share.

Research In Motion have missed their initial time frame for the software update, as it was initially scheduled for October, but it has been delayed now for at least 4 more months.

More depressing news has surfaced, as the popular BlackBerry Instant Messaging application will not be included in the new update.

Shares dropped 6 percent after the news surfaces, adding to the problems the company have faced all year in the tough smartphone market. They have missed sales targets all year and the three day downtime for services hurt their relationship with businessmen who need email and messaging on the move.

Kitguru says: Officebroker.com conducted a survey of 500 business executives and 64 percent of these said they would switch to an iPhone.

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