The troubled life of the Blackberry Playbook tablet has taken yet another turn. Research in Motion, in a statement to AllThingsD.com, confirms that it will no longer make the 16 GB version of the Playbook.
RIM"s statement says, "There is more value for our customers in the higher-capacity models (32GB, 64GB), and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here." RIM said that the 16 GB version will still be available to purchase until its inventory runs out.
Launched over a year ago, the seven inch Playbook has never been a success in terms of both sales and in reviews. Several months ago, RIM said that it would take a $485 million charge due to all of its unsold Playbooks.
Unlike HP, which quickly cancelled its its own WebOS based TouchPad tablet after it was clear no one was buying them, RIM has stuck it out with the Playbook. In fact, the company has announced that a version of the tablet with 4G wireless support would be released sometime this fall. It has also announced that owners of the Playbook would get a software upgrade to RIM"s Blackberry 10 OS when that software is released later this year.
Source: AllThingsD.com