RIM in Canada has cut the price of PlayBook. Best Buy, its sister chain Future Shop, and Staples all dropped prices on every capacity. The prices drop to as little as $199 for a 16GB version and peak at $399 for the 64GB model. US retailers so far haven’t joined in.
The promos are all coordinated by RIM, starting Friday across all retailers and likewise ending simultaneously on December 1.
A price slash follows just weeks after a drop to $300 across North America. It supports unconfirmed rumors that sales weren’t effective and that RIM might be resorting to even deeper discounts to clear stock. Other non-Apple tablet makers have also cut prices, but not by the 60 percent of the PlayBook.
Most of the PlayBook’s problems have been widely blamed on RIM’s decision to rush the software which lacks native e-mail and BBM. Even version two of the OS will lack BBM.
