On the investor call that followed today’s financial results, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins announced that the company would not release a BlackBerry 10 upgrade for its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.
Back in January, Heins had indicated during an interview with CNBC that the company would in fact provide a BlackBerry 10 upgrade for the PlayBook. By means of explanation, he said that the company was unable to reach satisfactory performance levels on the PlayBook with the new operating system.
BlackBerry will now focus on core products, suggesting that the PlayBook is no longer such a product and that it is unlikely that we will see new tablets from the company for the foreseeable future.
Today’s news is not a complete surprise as hints of today’s news had already been in the air. For example, Heins recently predicted that tablets would no longer be relevant within five years. “In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,” Heins told Bloomberg back in April. “Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such.” He added that they were not a good business model. With the company still losing money, it’s likely that it has simply decided to cut its losses and focus on more profitable products.
One thing is clear: There will be more than a few upset BlackBerry tablet owners today.