BlackBerry PlayBook on pre-order ahead of April 19 release

Customers waiting the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet can begin placing their orders from now. Research In Motion and Best Buy, yesterday announced the pricing and launch date for the tablet in the U.S. and Canada.

The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will come in three models, featuring 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage at $499, $599 and $699 respectively. It is scheduled to be available from all Best Buy stores and Best Buy Mobile stores in the US, as well as Best Buy and Future Shop* stores in Canada, on April 19. Customers in the US and Canada can place their orders beginning today by visiting their local Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile or Future Shop store or by ordering on-line (after 8am ET) at: U.S. ‚ www.bestbuy.com/playbook

Canada – www.bestbuy.ca/blackberry or www.futureshop.ca/blackberry

“Previews of the BlackBerry PlayBook have generated tremendous excitement and we know that customers are eager to get their hands on one,”” said Craig McLennan, Regional Managing Director, North America, Research In Motion. “”We share that excitement and we are very pleased to announce that customers can begin placing their orders with Best Buy today.””

‚Tablets are becoming a bigger part of our business everyday and the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook will heighten the level of excitement in this category,‚ said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile. ‚RIM has a tremendous history of producing great mobility products for our customers and we are excited to help launch the BlackBerry PlayBook.‚

BlackBerry PlayBook is the world’s first professional-grade tablet. It features an ultra-portable design and delivers industry leading performance, uncompromised web browsing with support for Adobe Flash¬Æ Player 10.1, true multitasking, HD multimedia, advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a robust development environment.

BlackBerry PlayBook specifications:

7″” 1024×600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen

Ultra-portable at less than a pound and less than one-half inch thick: 0.9 lbs (425g) and 5.1‚ x 7.6‚ x 0.4‚ (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)

1 GHz dual-core processor

BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing

MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback

Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)

1080p HDMI output

Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture (3MP front and 5MP rear)

1 GB RAM memory

Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)

GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)

Stereo speakers and stereo microphones

Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity

Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support

For more information about the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, please visit www.blackberry.com/playbook

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