BlackBerry has only ever released just one tablet, the PlayBook. The 7-inch tablet didn’t do very well. Since then the company has stayed far away from the tablet market. At first it did say that BlackBerry 10 will be released for the PlayBook, but then it reneged on the pledge and confirmed that BB10 won’t be making its way to the ill-fated tablet. As per BlackBerry’s official Software Support Life Cycle website, support for BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.x and 2.1.x is going to end this month.
For quite some time now no major updates have been released for the tablet. BlackBerry didn’t actually kill support before, but the only updates it ever rolled out primarily dealt with bug fixes and security improvements. Even if the company decides to release another software update after PlayBook OS 2.1.x, it will most probably deal with security improvements as well.
As far as BlackBerry’s tablet plans go, the company has said that it may consider launching another, but given its precarious financial condition it may take a while before BlackBerry takes such a big risk again. CEO John Chen’s first priority appears to be returning the company back to profitability, and he may lean on the company’s past successes to do so.
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