BlackBerry PlayBook might be delayed due to battery problems

It looks like not everything is going well at RIM’s camp. The BlackBerry PlayBook, scheduled for a release early next year might be delayed according to a Kaufman Bros. analyst who heard from his sources. Apparently the tablet is in a dire need of re-engineering as its only manages to squeeze out “a few hours” from its battery, while in comparison, the iPad and Galaxy Tab manage 10 and 6 hours respectively. The PlayBook might even be shipping with a larger battery, and negating much of its weight advantage of being a 7″ tablet. The reason for this problem has been due to QNX’s initial design wasn’t intended for mobile environments, where battery life wasn’t a major concern. If the PlayBook ships with low battery life, it’s just going to add more to the list of reasons not to get a PlayBook. With some of the other reasons being the lack of content and apps available on the BlackBerry App World, which is also due to the fact that BlackBerry has OS 6 and QNX – developers have to choose whether they want to develop for either operating system and can’t do a simple port like how Android/iOS apps can work in both tablet and mobile form. Despite the impressive demonstrations of the tablet a while back, it looks like it might not be enough to ensure the tablet is a success. What do you think?