The BlackBerry PlayBook's new 2.0 OS will arrive as a giant over-the-air update later this month, likely during the Mobile World Congress trade show if RIM sticks to its announced schedule. The new OS adds email, contacts, calendar, and the ability to run Android apps to RIM's tablet.
RIM is sticking to its February timetable for the update, and code will arrive "very soon," BlackBerry senior brand manager Jeff Gadway said in a meeting with PCMag today. The new OS will appear as a free, 400MB download automatically pushed to all PlayBooks.
PlayBook OS 2.0 adds many features reviewers said were missing from the original tablet OS. Most notably, it has comprehensive messaging support, with a unified inbox that combines (or separates) personal email, Microsoft Exchange email, and social networking messages from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
The OS includes a contact book that tells you when you've last met with specific people, and lets you use your BlackBerry handheld as a keyboard or mouse for your PlayBook.
PlayBook OS 2.0 will also run reformatted Android apps, which will be available in BlackBerry App World and look just like any other PlayBook app. For more details, read our report from CES, "Taking RIM's New PlayBook 2.0 Out For a Spin."
The new features are just a software upgrade, though: Gadway confirmed there won't be any hardware changes to the tablet in the short term, although he told potential tablet buyers to "stay tuned" for pricing news. That leaves open the possibility of a price drop on the tablet, although the 16GB model is already selling at Office Depot for a very low $199.99.
In the future, "we're still committed to a 4G PlayBook, and 2.0 is a large part of getting 4G right," Gadway said. Versions of the PlayBook that run on 4G networks were announced, and then cancelled last year after U.S. wireless carriers showed little interest. The PlayBook has struggled in an iPad-dominated tablet market, with RIM writing off $485 million of value last year because of slow tablet sales.
If RIM pushes February to its limits, Feb. 29 could potentially be a very busy day for mobile news. Microsoft is anticipated to roll out the first consumer beta of Windows 8 that day, and Apple might choose that day to announce an early March unveiling of the iPad 3. (Apple hasn't said a single official word about the iPad 3 yet.)
Note: This article was clarified to more precisely frame Jeff Gadway's comments.