RIM Co-CEO dances around BlackBerry PlayBook criticism in interview [video]

While we like where Research In Motion is going with its new BlackBerry Playbook, there’s little question at this point that it is a rushed product. RIM admits as much by constantly talking about future updates that will bring missing functionality to the platform, just as Microsoft has done with its Windows Phone platform. As has been beaten to death by reviewers, the PlayBook will lack core functionality at launch, such as an email client, calendar functionality and more, and it also won’t have an extensive selection of available third-party applications until it is updated to support Android apps in a future update. Bloomberg caught up with RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie on Friday and confronted him with several questions surrounding these critiques. While the uncomfortable situation wasn’t enough to make him walk out of the interview as Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis did earlier this week, Balsillie ultimately did little to convince teetering consumers to make a purchase when the PlayBook is released next week. Hit the break for a video of the interview.

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Tags: Android, Apps, BlackBerry, BlackBerry Bridge, BlackBerry Playbook, CEO, corporate email, Email, interview, Jim Balsillie, pairing, playbook, QNX, RIM, tablet, Tablets, Video

Zach Epstein