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BlackBerry PlayBook won't get the BB10 update after all

BlackBerry PlayBook won't get the BB10 update after all

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 29 June 2013 13:10 IST

It's official, BlackBerry's PlayBook tablet will not get upgraded to run its new BlackBerry 10 OS.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins retracted on the promise of delivering the Blackberry 10 update, and said that the company was not satisfied with the performance of the new software on the PlayBook tablet and would focus on its core products instead.

"Unfortunately, I am not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience," said Heins. "I made the difficult decision to stop these efforts and focus on our core hardware portfolio."

He said that multiple teams were working on porting the BlackBerry 10 OS to the PlayBook but he decided to cancel the project. He did mention that the company would continue to support the PlayBook with its existing software.

At the time of the international launch of BlackBerry 10 and the first smartphone that runs it, the BlackBerry Z10, Heins had promised that the company planned to upgrade all PlayBook tablets to BlackBerry 10.

The BlackBerry tablet currently runs the PlayBook 2.1 OS which is built on QNX. The same platform has been used as a base for the new BlackBerry 10 operating system as well. However, the PlayBook can not run native BlackBerry 10 apps.

Heins has been vocal in conveying that the company was not too keen on tablets, indicating on more than one occasion that BlackBerry was not looking at building a new tablet.

During an interview Heins said that he does't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet in five years and that tablets were not a good business model.

Heins had also admitted that with the PlayBook, which did not turn out to be a success, the company took the plunge a little too early as it was excited to show off its new operating system and missed out on building an app ecosystem.

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