The Blackberry Playbook and the IPad 2 are tablets hotly contested in usefulness by students who were interviewed.
HENJI MILIUS
BIZ/TECH REPORTER
Research in Motion, a Waterloo-based company, will release the Blackberry Playbook on April 19 to challenge Apple’s lead with the iPad 2 by focusing on weight and speed.
RIM’s first tablet will have a 7-inch screen with 1024 by 600 resolution, weigh 0.9 pounds, run an operating system powered by QNX technology with a 1 gigahertz dual-core processor and 1 gigabyte of ram for memory. The device will go on sale at Best Buy for $499.
Apple, on the other hand, released the much-anticipated iPad 2 last month. It has a bigger screen size at 9.7 inches, two cameras for FaceTime and HD video recording, a dual-core processor and 10 hours battery life in a thinner and lighter design weighing 1.33 pounds. The device starts at $519.
“These days when you do have a Blackberry or an iPhone, or any Blackberry products or Apple products, people label you. I refused to be labeled,” said Manpreet Dhanota, 20, a second year business administration student.
Rob Robson, program coordinator for game programming at North Campus, said he was impressed with the Playbook when he looked at it in San Francisco.
“One of the advantages of the smaller one is weight,” said Robson. “The Playbook comes in very light. It’s about the weight of my e-reader,” Robson said.
Dinesh Nijjar, 19, a student from the accounting program, said the Playbook “has more features. It’s the latest technology. It has Blackberry messaging. You don’t have to pay for a texting plan.”
Craig Salia, director of digital products at the Globe and Mail, said, “Apple products have proven themselves to be easy to use. The iPad 2 is concentrated in media consumption. It is not quite positioned in the multiplayer stage yet. Apple says this product is a post-pc. This is not a computer.”
“Apple has the best technology. It’s number one. This company came with the iPad a long time ago,” said Romel Harriperseud, 26, a student in the accounting program.
Two professors from Humber’s business school say the tablets will have an effect in the classroom.
Frank Fusca, a professor of e-commerce and e-business marketing at Humber said “teachers will have a challenge to keep the students engaged as more tablets get in the classrooms.”
Paul Griffin, professor of finance and management, said, “like a lot of companies, like banks and insurance companies wanting to get at students early on to build loyalty with them, I would perceive this as a strategic move on Blackberry’s part that if they can get it at students, they have them for life.”