Ina Fried

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RIM Shares a Page From Its PlayBook

Research In Motion CEO Mike Lazaridis arrived at D: Dive Into Mobile with more than just his BlackBerry–he also showed off various features of RIM’s forthcoming PlayBook tablet, including the ability to play Adobe Air applications.

“It’s really simple to use, very fluid,” Lazaridis said, demonstrating various Adobe Air apps, a Flash-based calculator and revamped versions of the productivity applications RIM got through its acquisition of DataViz. He also showed the device’s multitasking capabilities, with 1080p video running alongside other applications.

“This is how we like to be entertained,” Lazaridis said.

As for the size, Lazaridis said it was ultramobile but doesn’t compromise in performance or display. “Seven inches is just the perfect size.”

Pressed on that point, Lazaridis did say it might not be the only size. “We’ve got different sizes potentially coming,” he said.

The PlayBook, which RIM unveiled earlier this year, is due on the market early next year. “It’s tracking first quarter,” Lazaridis said.

Lazaridis said that the QNX operating system used by the PlayBook will make it into smartphones when RIM moves those devices to multicore chips.

A liveblog of his talk can be found here.

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— Disqus user Brian Nielsen, commenting on ATD’s Smartphone Wars story