Tablets
BlackBerry PlayBook
BlackBerry rushed a tablet to challenge the iPad — and shipped it without native email, the very thing its brand was built on. Panned and unsold, the PlayBook forced a $485 million writedown and was gone within two years.
- Company
- BlackBerry
- Started
- 2011
- Ended
- 2013
- Writedown (Dec 2011)
- ~$485 million
- Estimated loss
- Estimated: $485,000,000 [5]
- Collapse speed
- Rapid
- Preventability
- High
- Lesson transfer
- Universal
- Last reviewed
- 2026-07-22
Narrative
The story
The ambition
As the iPad reshaped computing, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion wanted a tablet of its own. The PlayBook, launched in 2011, was its answer: a compact 7-inch tablet on a slick new operating system, meant to carry BlackBerry's business credibility into the tablet era.
The rise
RIM was still a giant, its phones a fixture in business and government, and the PlayBook launched with real marketing muscle and a capable operating system built on QNX.
The cracks
It shipped missing the one thing BlackBerry was famous for. The PlayBook had no native email, calendar, or contacts app at launch — to get email, you had to pair it with a BlackBerry phone. Reviewers derided the omission, its app ecosystem was thin against the iPad's, and chasing the tablet market pulled RIM's attention from the smartphone business it was struggling to defend.
The collapse
Sales collapsed after a modest start, and unsold inventory piled up. In December 2011 BlackBerry took a $485 million writedown, ran deep fire-sale discounts, and quietly discontinued the PlayBook by 2013.
The aftermath
The PlayBook became a symbol of RIM's decline — a rushed product that abandoned its own core strength and distracted the company at the worst possible moment.
The lessons
Do not ship a product missing the very thing you are known for. Rushing to answer a competitor with an incomplete device squanders the credibility that was your advantage — and chasing a new market can cost you the one you already have.
Causal timeline
Failure Anatomy
- 2011-04
An answer to the iPad
Research In Motion launched the BlackBerry PlayBook in April 2011 as an iPad competitor. [1]
- 2011
Missing its own strength
The PlayBook shipped without native email, calendar, or contacts unless paired with a BlackBerry phone, which reviewers derided. [2]
Poor execution - 2011
- 2011-12
Written down and discontinued
Sales collapsed and inventory piled up; BlackBerry took a $485M writedown in December 2011 and discontinued the PlayBook by 2013. [5]
Structured analysis
What Went Wrong
Root causes
Shipped without email. RIM rushed the PlayBook to market missing core features — no native email, calendar, or contacts app without a paired BlackBerry phone — which reviewers derided. [2]
A thin app ecosystem. The PlayBook launched with a weak app library against the entrenched iPad and never gained traction. [3]
Contributing factors
Distracted from its core. Chasing the iPad spread RIM thin and diverted resources from defending its core smartphone business. [4]
Immediate trigger
Unsold, and written down. Sales collapsed and inventory piled up unsold, forcing a large writedown. [5]
Visible symptoms
Inventory piling up. Large amounts of PlayBook inventory sat unsold on retailer shelves. [5]
Warning signs
Reviewers panning the missing email. At launch, reviewers derided the PlayBook for lacking native email, an obvious problem for a BlackBerry device. [2]
Affected groups
Evidence
Claims & sources
Every numbered marker in the analysis links to the claim it rests on, and each claim to its sources.
- [1]
Research In Motion launched the BlackBerry PlayBook in April 2011 as an iPad competitor.
- [2]
RIM rushed the PlayBook to market missing core features — notably no native email, calendar, or contacts app without a paired BlackBerry phone — which reviewers derided.
Moderate Reported explanation BlackBerry PlayBook — Wikipedia Cracking up: a brief history of BlackBerry's fall from smartphone dominance - [3]
The PlayBook launched with a weak app ecosystem against the entrenched iPad and never gained traction.
Moderate Reported explanation BlackBerry PlayBook — Wikipedia Cracking up: a brief history of BlackBerry's fall from smartphone dominance - [4]
By chasing the iPad with the PlayBook, RIM spread itself thin and diverted resources from defending its core smartphone business.
Moderate Reported explanation BlackBerry PlayBook — Wikipedia Cracking up: a brief history of BlackBerry's fall from smartphone dominance - [5]
Sales collapsed and inventory piled up unsold; in December 2011 BlackBerry took a $485 million writedown on the PlayBook, and it was discontinued by 2013.
Sources
BlackBerry PlayBook — Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Cracking up: a brief history of BlackBerry's fall from smartphone dominance
Engadget · 2013-11-05