BlackBerry PlayBook Price Drops Are Just Promotions

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We have been hearing more and more chatter lately in terms of the BlackBerry PlayBook and price cuts. In fact, we had seen several Canadian retailers lower the prices, which was then followed by a few US based retailer doing the same. And well, it looks like RIM has come forward with an official announcement to clear a few things up.

Needless to say, what you are about to read may clear up a few things as to why we have not seen more retailers lower the price. Anyway, without any further adieu, here is the statement from RIM;

The official retail price of BlackBerry PlayBook has not changed. However, as mentioned on the Q2 earnings call on Sept. 15th, we have a number promotional plans in place for the fall with our retail partners that are intended to drive sell-through and increased adoption of the BlackBerry PlayBook. We are already starting to see some of these promotions being implemented in the form of instant rebates and gift cards within the consumer channel, and expect these promotions to continue into the holiday season. The BlackBerry PlayBook has established itself as a high-performance tablet, and we are confident that these activities, along with the upcoming software upgrade, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, will help to generate an increase in demand and sell through of the BlackBerry PlayBook over the upcoming months.

In short, these price drops just go back to the September 15th earnings call and are nothing more than a temporary promotion, which is a bit disappointing. Of course, on the flip side, if this is the path that RIM wants to take to get some press and generate some buzz before the PlayBook OS 2.0 release then we are game. In fact, we hope that it helps because as we have said before, the PlayBook, despite its current faults — is a solid device. But still, we suspect that any price drops could end up being made permanent based on the fact that if few people were buying at the original price, who is going to buy once they go back up after the promotions end.