RIM on recalling 1,000 PlayBooks: Some were “unable to properly load software upon initial set-up”

RIM has sent out an official statement on the “faulty” PlayBook issue that surfaced this past weekend. An internal Staples doc revealed that there were over 900 PlayBooks that had some sort of unexplained fault with them and recalled them. The official word from RIM is below and it’s actually closer to 1,000 units. They state that the “small number” of 16GB PlayBooks that made it into a customers hand were “unable to properly load software upon initial set-up”. RIM doesn’t mention Staples so the recall could be from other distribution partners too. There’s no official word on how many PlayBooks have been sold but analysts have estimated that RIM sold about 50,000 PlayBooks in the first day. A month has passed and hopefully the number has significantly increased… so 1,000 in the bigger picture is really a “small number”.

RIM determined that approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook tablets (16 GB) were shipped with an OS build that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up.

The majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel and haven’t reached customers. RIM is working to replace the affected devices.

In the small number of cases where a customer received a PlayBook that is unable to properly load software upon initial set-up, they can contact RIM for assistance.