HP started it by claiming that RIM had copied some aspects of its Tablet OS. The BlackBerry Tablet OS is based on the QNX platform and it does have some similarities to Palm's WebOS. The comments, that RIM is a copycat, stirred RIM marketing bod Jeff McDowell to comment. Since it comes from marketing the comment is full of phrases like “user experience”. But he noted that HP does not seem to be keen to take its complaints to court.
He said that RIM had designed its OS from the ground up and many of the ideas which were similar to the Palm OS were in the mix long before Palm thought of them.
“There was no intention and no preconceived notion that this is what we want to end up looking like. In fact, I think QNX had that design lined up before we even started working with them,” he said.
RIM's Playbook is probably hitting the shops on April 10. It is likely that the PlayBook 16GB Wi-Fi will cost $499.