Dixons stores knock £150 off RIM PlayBook

Enough to drum up demand?

PC World and Currys have knocked 150 quid off the price of RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook in a bid to encourage sales of the 7in tablet.

Previously priced at £399, the 16GB PlayBook can now be had for £249. Likewise, the once £479 32GB model is now just £329.

The cuts come just a few weeks after RIM knocked $200 off the US price, taking the tablet down to $299, surely inspired by the success of HP's $99-a-pop TouchPad sale and Amazon's introduction of a $199 7in tablet, the Kindle Fire.

Indeed, the Fire is said to be based on hardware already developed for the PlayBook.

Whatever, channel sources who've spoke to Channel Register over the past few months suggest demand for the PlayBook is weak, so RIM an its retailers have little choice but to egg on potential punters by offering the tablet at a more attractive price.

Especially, perhaps, given last week's mass BlackBerry outage. ®