Reports that RIM is has placed an order with 8.9 inch screens from Apple's iPad supplier have sent the rumour mill spinning into overdrive.
The market was clearly primed for Apple’s iPad, and HP’s own Slate shows interest from the Windows side of the fence. But is the world ready for a BlackBerry tablet..?
Ready or not that’s what might be on the horizon, according to a report that RIM has ordered up a slew of 8.9 inch screens from Chinese supplier Hon Hai Precision, better known as Foxconn – yes, the same company which produces the iPad and iPhone, along with Amazon’s Kindle.
CrackBerry.com’s Kevin Michaluk
writes that an industry research firm states “three sources have confirmed that RIM has placed an order with supplier Hon Hai for 8.9 inch displays for use in a tablet” which will launch later this year.
The immediate suspicion is that RIM is hoping to cash in on the tablet wave, or at least ensure it doesn’t miss the ride, with a device which could be considered as an super-sized BlackBerry Storm.
At the very least, a BlackBerry tablet could defend RIM’s business and enterprise turf from Apple’s iPad and any subsequent leakage away from the BlackBerry to the iPhone.
But industry analysts don’t have the best track record for picking the winning horse. Other theories include the device as a large-screen ‘companion’ for a BlackBerry device (which is definitely niche and quite likely whacko), or some equally niche in-car system for corporate fleets based on RIM’s recent purchase of QNX Software, which specialises in the connected automotive market.
Or it could simply be that RIM has ordered a pallet of panels to experiment with – the company has a solid backbone in research, engineering and innovation, and this might just be a sensible sideline project to investigate the potential and practicalities of a tablet.