RIM delays promised tablet firmware update

RIM (Research in Motion) has recently announced that they are delaying the launch of the upgraded operating system for its struggling PlayBook Tablets until February 2012. Earlier they said that the OS would be made available by October.

David Smith, RIM’s senior vice president, commented on the company's blog as the new version of the OS isn’t up to its standards at this point. He also added that this latest version of the OS will not have the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger.

This new OS will feature the ability for the blackberry users to automatically access their e-mail, contacts and calendar on the PlayBook as these features were not available in the prior model they have.

Earlier when they launched this model in April this year they said to be adding the features within 60 days but they later postponed it to October. The PlayBook also had a negative review for not having these features.

According to Smith, they would love to release the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 now but they just want it to fully get confidence to meet the expectations of developers, enterprise customers and also the end users.

The PlayBook is the RIM’s first effort in the world of Tablets but has been a major disappointment for the company. RIM has reported that they have sold about 200,000 units in the last quarter, which is far short of what analysts have expected.

RIM has also delayed the launch of their new phone which is mostly being run on their latest QNX operating system. They have not mentioned any details regarding the delay.

RIM seems to have lost a good number of market shares in the US, where people are feeling more comfortable with the new generation touchscreens. But they are still having success overseas.

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