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Bloomberg has said that BlackBerry maker RIM plans to introduce a tablet in November to called the "Blackpad".
Citing "two people familiar with the company’s plans", the Bloomberg report claimed that the upcoming device would be equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but would connectto the Internet through the user’s BlackBerry smartphone.
The report claims that the device will be called the "BlackPad" and pointed to fact that rights to the Internet domain blackpad.com have been transferred to RIM in the last month. BlackBerry’s smartphone market share has fallen from 20.9 to 19.4 per cent in the last year in the face of growing competition.
The new tablet will be of a similar size and price point to the successful Apple iPad and is thought to have a tightly integrated email capability with the BlackBerry smartphone so popular in the corporate sector.
While the device is not thought to feature mobile phone networking, reports have surfaced from Far Eastern electronics manufacturers that RIM has sourced cameras suitable for front and back placement on a mobile device leading to speculation that the BlackPad will introduce video conferencing capability.
Earlier this week, BlackBerry fan and president of the United States Barrack Obama, had faced questions regarding his usage of the SmartPhone on US TV program "The View". Obama admitted that using the device was "no fun because they think that it’s probably going to be subject to the presidential records act." The act places strict requirements on security and archiving of emails. Obama subsequently revealed that just ten individuals were authorised to email the president on his BlackBerry.
