Friday, June 17, 2011

O2 in the U.K. decides against selling BlackBerry PlayBook due to customer responses

O2 in the U.K. decides against selling BlackBerry PlayBook due to customer responses
The BlackBerry PlayBook launched today in the U.K. and If you live there and were planning on buying the 7 inch tablet, don't run into any O2 locations. The carrier has decided against offering the tablet to its customers and in response to O2 subscribers who say that they want to buy the device, the carrier says it refuses to sell the BlackBerry PlayBook because of "issues with customer experiences".

O2 has decided before against offering its customers a device it didn't believe in. About 2 months ago, the mobile operator decided not to offer the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play to its clients, citing below average customer experience and units plagued with bugs.

In the letter sent to those O2 customers interested in the PlayBook, the carrier adds that it is working with RIM on future PlayBook releases and even said that it hasn't 100% completely ruled out offering the current model sometime in the (way distant?) future.

Having carriers refuse to sell your products is the not the way to start a comeback. As we reported earlier today, RIM announced Q1earnings below expectations and cut its own forecast for second quarter earnings and expected profit for fiscal 2011. Combined with a delay in the U.S. launch of the 4G version of the BlackBerry PlayBook, RIM's stock dropped 14% after-hours.

source: Engadget

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