BlackBerry PlayBook price slashing begins: $249 and up for Rogers workers

They gave me one for free and I used it once. It felt more like an engineering prototype than a commercial product, even though it was months after they US release.

Apparently the APIs and developer tools were in constant flux right up until launch day and there was a palpable sense that RIM's main concern was just getting a product to market ASAP.

Are they taking a loss under the new prices?

They didn't even include a mail client or a calendar initially but had to tether to a Blackberry phone. Maybe they were afraid of the Playbook hemorrhaging phone and BES sales? With thinking like that and the high cost and making tablets just for the me-too factor, no wonder it failed.