Blackberry Playbook 2.0 too late to save RIM?

After promising in April 2011 that its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet would receive an update featuring native e-mail

and support for Android applications in 60 days, yesterday Research in Motion finally delivered the updated OS,

instead of yet another extension.

But the question is – can PlayBook OS 2.0 change anything for RIM?

First up, let’s deal with the much vaunted Android app compatibility. In RIM’s press release this came last, and

confused me because I always thought of the PlayBook as a great tablet with an anaemic lack of applications. One

would think RIM would highlight plugging of the biggest hole, but all RIM’s press release said was: “…thousands of

new apps are being added to BlackBerry App World today (including a range of Android apps that will run on the

BlackBerry PlayBook).” That’s it. And perhaps that’s why the RIM press release put it last, because RIM didn’t

provide any details on these ‘thousands’ of new apps. BlackBerry App World doesn’t have a section on new apps

ported from Android and when I searched for apps I really didn’t come across any really well known Android apps.

And for those of you who expect Android Market to appear on PlayBook OS 2.0, no—that was never the plan.

Next up, there’s an integrated e-mail client with a unified inbox that consolidates messages from e-mail accounts,

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The interface is nice, but what put me off is that I couldn’t connect my work e-

mail account, running on MS Exchange.