Research In Motion has responded to claims made by Kaufman Bros. analyst, Shaw Wu, that RIM would delay the launch of the PlayBook due to battery performance issues. The statement reads:
“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented. RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”
RIM has not provided specific availability dates beyond saying that the PlayBook will be available in the United States in early 2011.