Yes, it is very unfortunate that the device didn't ship with native PIM applications at launch. Thankfully they've fixed that problem with software updates and it's continued to be improved since.

Don't get me wrong, even in it's current position the PlayBook OS is severely lacking in many key areas, however it will eventually get upgraded to BlackBerry 10 as it's the primary device developers are using to port or build their applications outside of those lucky enough to attend an BB10 Jam session and get their hands on an Dev Alpha device.

Complaining about it won't make any difference and nobody has any control over what they decide to prioritize in their software stack, outside of not supporting their business or products-which is the preferred method I like to use... because it's the only way I have to influence corporates-how I spend my money, I wish more people would remenber that there is something they can do instead of just trolling or throwing out negativity constantly-just general remarks here not calling anyone out. Obviously the second step is to advice your family, friends, and colleagues about your stance, but they are all big boys and girls and they should be able to make their own judgements about what they value without me having to constantly hold their hand.

I'm not making excuses for RIM, more describing the situation as I saw it unfold and pointing out some of the unique features that the PlayBook has to offer.

I see the potential they have with the new platform, being based upon QNX at the core with a fairly large extension of open source libraries that have been ported to work on top of it and they have done some very innovative things with gestures on the PlayBook and integrating Android applications into BlackBerry AppWorld that look and act just like native applications. The multi-tasking is absolutely fantastic in comparisent to any other mobile platform I've personally used.

But again, there are some very big problems with their ecosystem-aka considered non-existing compared to the competition, however the developer tools for BlackBerry 10 are completely different then their old BlackBerry OS / Java platform and a lot of people seem to be very uninformed and seem to think that the next revision of BlackBerry is going to be the same old-same old like the past few revisions from OS 4, 5, 6, and most recently 7. Nothing more could be the case.

They have the potential to do something very unique and they've finally realized they don't need to compete directly with Apple or Google. They've decided to target a certain segment of market and consoladate their resources and aim for it. The company has changed quite a lot in the past year-more so then it has in probably the last 5.

Am I biased? Of course. Are you? You bet your ass. I just like to be a bit objective and have seen the shift in the mobile market and know it can change again very quickly. There has been a completely radicial shift in the past 5 years where BlackBerry was once king, iOS came out of nowhere and after a few revisions started to dominate, and now Android is taking over everyone-the question is... who is next? The market is still too young, anything is possible.

Never write someone completely off-those that become desperate are the most dangerous, and in turm those that are the most innovative.... even if they end up failing and dying in the process. It's worth watching them at least and looking at their perspective. It's where you'll learn the most, I think!

There's a certain appeal to the BlackBerry PlayBook's bridge functionality. You can have your tablet that pairs to your phone over an encrypted Bluetooth connection and use it's data. So you only require a single data plan, not a separate data plan for both your tablet and phone.

The other key important feature of Bridge is that it has a seamless integration with the BlackBerry when it comes to it's PIM, so you can take your highly secure and locked down work BlackBerry and as long as your enterprise hasn't blocked this particular feature (which you can via the BES) you'd be able to pull up all your work information (email, calendar, contacts, files, etcetc) on the tablet - and as soon as the Bluetooth connection is broken between the phone and tablet, bingo all information is removed from the tablet - nothing ever stays on the PlayBook via Bridge, so it's safe to use in a corporate or enterprise environment.

It's a compromise but an interesting one-the PlayBook is more of a companion to your BlackBerry and in an work or enterprise environment it has some key features that make it appealing without having to get into an enterprise level MDM solution and having to support yet another device, and having to have yet another data plan.

Now... on launch Bridge was the only way to get PIM on the PlayBook that has since changed and is no longer a requirement since OS 2.0 launched.

There are many reasons why the PlayBook didn't ship with native PIM, but the simplest reason is that that PIM software was obviously not ready for launch back in April of 2011 and they HAD to get it out the door as they had already delayed and it was more important at that point in time to be in the market and show the potential then to continue to delay-they already get so much flack because of this as it is.

So I personally think they made a compromise and obviously history is so far writing it up as a big mistake. There were a lot of rumours that they were trying to make an emulator for the Java BlackBerry OS just like they did for the Android OS and that is how they were going to do native PIM-this could totally be made up, but it makes a lot of sense if you followed the PlayBook's development and how ... lacking the native PIM was so early on in the OS 2.0 beta's in the early days.

In either case, I don't really think they had a choice, they needed the PlayBook out in the wild for no other reasons then they needed a way get their new platform out in the wild-and so far if you're a developer and if you actually took a look at the platform it offers a fairly compeling option to port or run your applications on.

And that's the key about BlackBerry 10... it is a new platform they are launching and what RIM is trying to do is unify what they put on their Phones, Tables, Cars, Kiosk-who knows what else. There is a lot of potential and I for one welcome their continued drive to stay relevant in the market. I don't want to be left with Apple iOS, Google Android, and potentially Microsoft as the only relevent options in the world. All three companies have abused their position and my privacy on numerous occasions and I cannot say RIM ever has.

There's a lot of hate on them right now. It is what it is. Sadly it seems everyone forgets how quickly these markets are growing and how fast things can change. I don't think RIM will ever dominate again, but they are going to cut up a section of the market and hold onto it it like no other. You don't have to be #1 or #2 to be successful. You can be #5 and still be doing business and making money. Otherwise we'd all starve to death ;-)

I'm not going to say that picking a good name to brand your products is not a very important thing-nor that one shouldn't invest the proper amount of resources to properly secure it and make sure it's unique in the market you're aiming for. But I really wish some of these articles weren't so slanted against RIM. I know it's all the rage these days to kick them when they are down, especially when they are in this transition period where they are moving towards a new platform and some of the issues they've had-just makes me a little sad.

http://devblog.blackberry.com/2011/10/open-source-playbook-os/?CPID=TWDDevCon

As some people on the CrackBerry forums have said, "I could care less if they called it FROG OS" because it finally looks like RIM is starting to deliver on the promises they've put forward for the new platform. It almost looks to be the most open platform available now, where it offers several different options for developers to use. With both the WebWorks API for both BlackBerry OS and the Playbook OS or the Adobe AIR/Flex/Flash API, and now finally the NDK with a very focused porting of Open Source libraries.

And the kicker? The one thing that everyone has been saying that RIM can't pull off? You can take an Android .apk and repackage it as an PlayBook .bar file all without looking at the code just need to run a couple of commands and then side load it onto a PlayBook and then use that application right now with the OS 2.0 Developers Beta.

So... maybe they are going to have issues with BBX name.. If they have to change it? So what, it's not like it matters, because they are finally giving people what they wanted. A real development environment to target for their current and upcoming devices and platforms. They didn't seem to think so: http://crackberry.com/official-staement-rim-regarding-basis-claim-bbx-trademark

Keep in mind this is all based upon QNX which has an amazing history and is used in a lot more things then people realize. I cannot wait to see what will come of this, even if they take a massive beating on the way down. We've seen giants fall and return again. It's like karma after all.

As mentioned elsewhere in these posts, give BBSSH a try. It does not have this annoying tendency. What you type in your blackberry keyboard is what you get and if you want to use caps you need to hold down the shift key just like a real keyboard. I cannot stress how amazing BBSSH is, once you start to really get use to it and learn about swipes (literally almost like gestures of a sorts) it's great and quickly I can use it almost as fast as a putty/xterm session.

http://bbssh.org/wiki/en/Home

The author just released 2.0 with huge improvements. I've been using it for nearly half a year now, previously on a Storm and now on a Torch. It's great, it even works well with things like screen and irssi. It's great being able to login to my servers remotely anywhere, check screen sessions and even if I want to hop on IRC if need be! For those familiar with MidpSSH this is basicly it on steriods, but done properly.

We have a copy of this pinned up in the lab at University: http://danny.oz.au/danny/humour/phd_lotr.html

Personally I especially like the part about supervisors disappearing (and being presumed dead)...