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No BBM app for PlayBook soon, admits RIM

BlackBerry tablet OS 2.0 delayed too

RIM has delayed the release of the next major upgrade to its BlackBerry PlayBook's operating system - and won't be including BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) at launch.

"We expect to deliver the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS to customers in February 2012," blogged David J Smith, RIM's PlayBook chief yesterday.

App developers were provided with a pre-release version of PlayBook OS 2.0 last week. The operating system is based on the real-time OS QNX, which RIM bought in April 2010.

While discussing PlayBook OS 2.0, Smith said: "We have decided to defer the inclusion of the BBM application to a subsequent BlackBerry PlayBook OS release."

PlayBook owners can use BBM today, but only by link a BlackBerry handset to the tablet, which then operates as a monitor for the smartphone. It's this clunky approach, plus the lack of a native email client, that many observers have blamed for the PlayBook's poor sales since its launch in May.

RIM recently slashed the PlayBook's price in a bid to get the tablet into the hands of more consumers. While they may not care overly about RIM's OS release schedule, the lack of BBM - a very popular app on BlackBerry handsets - is going to put many of them off. ®

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