Sprint may stop selling RIM PlayBook tablets

In what could be another nail to the coffin for the BlackBerry PlayBook, a new leak has hinted at a possible discontinuation of the PlayBook under the Sprint cellular network.

The report comes directly from sprintfeed.com, who claims to have the inside scoop on the end-of-life (EOL) listing of a number of Sprint products. Amongst a handful of to-be-discontinued smartphones, the RIM PlayBook sits on the list as the only tablet to be considered for a possible phase out. In fact, the tablet could be out of Sprint store shelves and gone from the carrier’s online market by the end of this month if the source proves to be true.

Sprint began selling the RIM PlayBook just over 6 months ago or around the same time the carrier revealed the HTC EVO View tablet. A 4G PlayBook was rumored to be in the works as well, but poor sales of the RIM tablet may have been enough to axe the project completely.

Still, the discontinuation of PlayBook sales directly from Sprint could mean either one of two thing: Either Sprint has given up on the PlayBook entirely or that it is simply making room for possible successors to the PlayBook tablet. We are definitely rooting for the latter, as RIM continues to have high hopes for the PlayBook as the long-delayed 2.0 tablet software update remains scheduled for a February launch. The OTA update is expected to fix a large number of features that have been plaguing PlayBook users while adding some much-welcomed support for the Android Market its apps.

The 7-inch PlayBook launched April of 2011 with mixed reviews. The unit included a 1GHz dual-core OMAP 4430 CPU, 1GB RAM, 1024x600 resolution display and up to a 64GB SSD with a number of physical connectivity options. Check out our complete review of the tablet here for a full assessment of the ailing RIM PlayBook.

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