This low-priced offer will be available until February 4, 2012 and currently appears to be a sale and not an “across-the-board” price cut. A few prospective consumers have already noted that retailers like Best Buy are still selling the devices for $499, $599 and $699 respectively, while others like Amazon are offering discounts.
Over the past few months, sales of the company’s tablets have been rather slow and market adoption rates have perpetually failed to catch up with Apple’s predominant ubiquity over the mobile space. RIM recorded a profit of $265 million in Q4 2011 compared with $911 million last year. The company has ultimately had a rough year in 2011, dealing with low sales, service outages and delays. However, the company intends to fully reignite itself in 2012 with the addition of 10 new smartphones and a new operating system.
For those interested in the PlayBook sales, PC World notes that the $299 price tag on the 16GB model is actually an increase for some buyers, as the most basic model had been previously selling for a mere $199 at some retailers prior to the holiday season.