5th March: Bill Ray from Register Hardware:
Canadian gadget emporium Future Shop sold more BlackBerry PlayBooks than iPads last week, indicating the end of Apple’s dominance or at least lending some succour to RIM’s investors.
Two days later, Apple announces the third iPad iteration. For months this has been speculated, for weeks stock of the previous iPad has been decreasing. So consumers are well aware there’s about to be a new hardware revision. And they’ve slowed their buying habits. But this would have required researching a story or maybe being honest with readers, something the Register has always been loathe to do. There’s a market in being the “News of the World” of Tech.
And Future Shop, obviously the Canadian retail equivalent of Currys, wastes no time being bullish on the Playbook which they probably stuffed their channel with as soon as it was announced. On their front page they mention an Acer tablet and the Playbook (being sold in a fire sale for $199.
Well below the fold.
So yes. If you’re a complete moron, you’ll think that the Playbook being sold in a fire sale is suddenly dominating over the iPad selling a week before the announcement of a new and updated model. And this is why I don’t read the Register any more.