BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.'s (RIMM) PlayBook
tablet won't be available until the first quarter of 2011, but many
companies are already considering how to deploy it and plan to
begin testing the device soon.
"I actually got my hands on the first unit today, and will get
demo devices in December," said Dave Codack, vice president of
Employee Technology and Network Services at TD Bank Financial
Group.
Candidates for a PlayBook at TD include executives, knowledge
workers who use basic productivity applications like Microsoft
Word, mortgage specialists who deal directly with customers and
contact-center employees who use basic applications to service
customers, Codack said.
It's too soon to say how many PlayBooks TD will deploy, but a
key factor will be the extent to which it can supplant laptops, he
said. If it can serve as a replacement, TD could end up providing
PlayBooks to as many as 10%-15% of its 75,000 employees, he said.
If not, it will have a "minimal footprint," he said.
The PlayBook is one of the more important product launches in
RIM's 26-year history. A pioneer in the smartphone market, the
Waterloo, Ontario firm is facing fierce competition from Apple
Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone juggernaut and a slew of devices running on
Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android operating system. The rival devices
are making inroads in the corporate-smartphone market, which the
BlackBerry has traditionally dominated.
RIM is fighting back, recently launching a new Blackberry
operating system and overhauling its support for
third-party-application developers. The company unveiled the
PlayBook in September to compete in the tablet-computer market and
defend its turf in the corporate market. A successful launch could
restore RIM's cachet and prop up flagging North American sales. A
flop could mean further erosion in the corporate market and
accelerate the perception of RIM as an also-ran.
RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said last week that the
PlayBook will sell for less than US$500. The iPad starts at
US$499.
Sun Life Financial Inc.'s (SLF) Tom Reid said he anticipates
ordering as many as 1,000 PlayBooks initially. Reid, senior vice
president of Group Retirement Services at Sun Life, said the
devices will be used to facilitate enrollment in retirement savings
plans managed by the insurance provider.
Enrollment in those plans have traditionally involved paper
forms that people often forget to fill out, he said. By using the
PlayBook and a custom-designed application, people can enroll on
the spot, increasing sign-up rates, he said. Sun Life is evaluating
other ways to deploy the PlayBook, including for enrollment in
other plans managed by the company or a sales-team tool, he
said.
Security was a critical factor in choosing the PlayBook, Reid
said. "It's got 128-bit encryption, and when you're thinking about
security of our members' personal information, that had to be our
No. 1 priority," he said.
Sun Life hasn't ordered the PlayBook yet, but a purchase order
is likely since the company spent a lot of time and money
developing its application for the device. "When the device is
ready to ship, then we'll negotiate--as with any supplier--the
terms under which we'll purchase them," he said.
Price is one reason Michael Wright is interested in the
PlayBook. Wright, chief technology officer for the Denver
International Airport, said he also likes the device's front and
rear cameras for video conferencing. Its Flash capability will make
for a superior Web-browsing experience, and obviate the need to pay
developers to fit an application onto a device that doesn't support
Flash, he said. "And we like the price point," he said.
The Denver airport will use the PlayBook to help enhance
security operations, snow operations and for in-the-field
maintenance, Wright said. He said he envisions deploying up to 300
tablets for the airport's 1,100 employees. Some of these will be
iPads, he said, though he "hasn't given much thought" yet to how
each device will be deployed.
TD's Codack said the company supports iPads but the device is
not "industrial grade" from a corporate perspective. "There's a
whole bunch of infrastructure required to manage
(large-scale-device deployments) and...the iPad doesn't have that,"
he said.
By contrast, RIM's BlackBerry smartphone was built from the
ground up as an enterprise product, Codack said. It allows
companies a high degree of control over how the device is used and
managed, and provides tight security, which is paramount for
corporations, he said. "If it has the look and feel of an iPad with
the kind of infrastructure that RIM provides, I think that's going
to be appealing," he said.
A list of some companies/organizations evaluating the
PlayBook:
TD Bank Financial Group
Sun Life Financial
Manulife Financial
ING Direct Canada
Denver International Airport
Colorado Department of Corrections
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
Lake Travis Independent School District, Austin, Texas
SAP AG
-By Stuart Weinberg; Dow Jones Newswires; 416-306-2026;
stuart.weinberg@dowjones.com
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