RIM's BlackBerry tablet starting to sound suspiciously like a Foleo

So BGR is reporting that it has "confirmed with multiple sources" that RIM's alleged BlackBerry tablet device is very real -- despite Mike Lazaridis' recent downer comments on the subject -- and that it'll have an 8.9-inch screen, WiFi, and Bluetooth connectivity to hook up with your phone. Oh yeah, about that Bluetooth connectivity: the tablet is being billed as a "companion" device, something to use when you need a little bit more horsepower and screen real estate for multimedia and the like. Sound familiar? Yeah, Palm tried this with famously catastrophic results a while back -- and considering RIM's ultra-conservative policy on product innovation, we can't imagine things going any better up in Waterloo. It's apparently slated for a December release with engineers scrambling to get it released even sooner... and, you know, discontinued sooner, too.

[charles hamilton Posted May 13th 2010 1:27PM]

Engadget STILL hate'n on the Foleo? Nobody knows for sure how successful it could have been because Palm cancelled it, and Engadget was a driving force in making that happen. Had it been released it would have been the forerunner of the netbook. It would have harnessed the Internet from the phone, saving the cost of another data plan, something even the iPad can't do out of the box. The only real knock against the foleo was the projected price, which IIRC was around 6 bills.

[vailmcc Posted May 13th 2010 1:35PM]

@Doctor Kwame Nkrumah Why doesn't anyone design a tablet with both touchscreen and physical keyboards? The form factor would be much like the Pre, sliding out of the bottom of the tablet?
I'm a genius.

[f8shand Posted May 13th 2010 1:52PM]

Has anyone ever noticed that the letters on the tablets that Charlton Heston is holding are backwards (as in a mirror-image) of what they should be?

[kapryt Posted May 13th 2010 4:26PM]

DEAR ENGADGET,

Please write a letter to RIM stating how THEY haven't innovated in half a dozen years, who cares if they are the market leader in smartphones, who cares if they are synonymous with the smartphone... yeah just take the letter you wrote in 2007 to Palm do a Find and Replace for Palm with RIM.

Oh and then write the same letter to Apple and tell them they haven't released a new product in three years and replace Foleo with iPad.

Yours truly... The 90% of people on Engadget who aren't Apple cheerleaders...

Is AOL/Engadget trying to get bought out by Apple or what??

[meefer Posted May 13th 2010 5:39PM]

Couldn't you say the same thing about an iPad? Hmmm? Just like an ipod touch except when you want to consume "rich" media perhaps?

[traveling chimp Posted May 13th 2010 5:41PM]

Actually I do something like this all the time. While on the road I'll get an email with an attachment that's just not effectively viewed on my Blackberry, so I'll pull out my laptop and tether to download the file. If I could pull out a tablet-type device with that type of functionality, automatically and wirelessly tether it to the thing that's already constantly attached to my hip. Maybe throw in some e-book functionality, I'd be thrilled. I'd imagine here that the biggest advantage lies in seamless integration of the BB enterprise server and the corporate friendly security that comes with it.

[trashpants Posted May 13th 2010 6:10PM]

I dont hate RIM, but considering they built the base for a smartphone market they seem to have made a ton of lame decisions since others started stepping into smartphones.

They have such a massive opportunity to make themselves huge contenders for the consumer market, but they insist on sticking with the business side of things and it holds them back. I truly hope that OS6 is amazing and the hardware is too; there were things I liked about BB, but oh so many I hated :(

[DoctarPeppar Posted May 13th 2010 9:25PM]

I have a Foleo in my Bungholio!

[Xianshell Posted May 16th 2010 10:08PM]

The only possible explanation I can think of for making this a "companion device" is to avoid the complexity of multi-PIN BIS and BES accounts. If it were a standalone device, with its own radio, users would want to have it connected to the same BIS and BES account as their Blackberry handheld... perhaps RIM is not able or willing to introduce this functionality...
very disappointing and this will significantly limit the success of the product.