The official BlackBerry account recently tweeted that the PlayBook was the top-selling tablet this week at Future Shop and Best Buy. This is likely due to the heavily discounted price and the release of OS 2.0, but nonetheless the feat is impressive. We reached out to both RIM and Best Buy/Future Shop for specific sales numbers, but they both declined to give them. A representative from Future Shop said, “Unfortunately we don’t disclose numbers, but can confirm the information is true.” We do know that over 850,000 PlayBooks have sold to date and that figure has now probably topped one million.
However, such media attention has only caused Netflix to dig in its heels even further in regards to building a PlayBook app. Despite an online petition signed by nearly 5500 people, a representative of the company reinforced to The Star that the petition “would not change our development plans, which do not include BlackBerry at this time.”
That doesn’t rule out a PlayBook app in the future, or perhaps allowing the existing Android app to be ported over, but it’s looking less and less likely that one of the most popular tablet apps on iOS and Android will be coming to BlackBerry. As a Netflix subscriber, I can’t help but be disappointed with their decision, but considering the amount of development time needed to create a great app tailored to a specific platform, I can’t blame them. On the other hand, it was rumoured that Microsoft paid Netflix a tidy some to have its Windows Phone app ready for the platform’s launch — perhaps RIM can do the same.
Despite a missing Netflix app, I found a lot to like in PlayBook OS 2.0, so congratulations to RIM for an uptick in its sales.
Source: Twitter
