RIM confirms 16GB Blackberry Playbook discontinuation

Just yesterday we reported that thanks to a leaked email, it would appear as thought RIM would be discontinuing the 16GB version of the Blackberry Playbook tablet. At that time while the email did appear to be valid, it was not officially confirmed and now thanks to a statement that RIM issued to the folks at Engadget, the discontinuation is indeed for real. According to RIM:

RIM will no longer be making the 16 GB model of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The 16 GB PlayBook will continue to be available for distributors and retailers while quantities last. We continue to remain committed to the tablet space and the 32 GB and 64 GB models of the BlackBerry PlayBook continue to be available from our distributors and retailers around the world.

There is more value for our customers in the higher capacity models (32 GB, 64 GB), and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here.

So it looks like if you’re in the market for a 16GB version of the Playbook tablet, you might want to hurry and get your hands on whatever remaining stock is left. We have to wonder if the discontinuation will also apply to the 4G version of the Playbook whose release date remains unknown for now, but either way we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled so stay tuned for updates.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Tablets
Tags: blackberry playbook, RIM