The friends list is limited to a BlackBerry ID but is separate from usual BlackBerry contacts due in part to a native contacts application missing. Users can set the system to the “do not disturb” mode, which ignores calls when involved in another activity.

The Facebook application brings a rather optimized image of the social network that is able to use all of its live and media features, which include photos and equally 1,080-pixel video viewing. Media playback has been optimized for the HDMI video output. Facebook Chat and full friend interaction are expected to work equally.

While Video Chat is already available, the finished Facebook application is expected to be ready later in the same month.

The Video Chat component is important for RIM, as there were many critics to blame the inclusion of the dual cameras without implementing one of the most expected features. Google and Apple think video chat is an important feature on their respective platforms for tablets and both make sure it is included on launch. Meantime, Research in Motion is known to have rushed the arrival of its PlayBook in stores aiming to have a competitor to Apple’s iPad even though the tablet lacked both video chat and other features like e-mail, a calendar or other important applications.

The phone is more powerful inside, as it has a 1.2GHz processor, possibly a Snapdragon, and 768MB of RAM. The device supports HSPA+ 3G on both single- and dual-mode versions of GSM. Another key feature is the operating system, the BlackBerry 7, which is expected to speed up the slower browsing through a new JavaScript compiler and support for HTML5. OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics completes the features which give BlackBerry handsets a real 3D gaming experience in premiere.

Voice-activated Universal Search is also brought by BlackBerry 7, like Android does. Now official, BlackBerry Balance helps to keep secure the e-mail as well as other corporate information, separated from personal data existent on the same phone. This technique keeps secret information off-limits to personal applications and at the same time allows the company to wipe off its data remotely on a leaving employee’s device without affecting personal data.

The new phone catches up and even moves ahead in some directions for RIM with the added NFC, which allows making short-range payments or reading tags in wireless mode. Also added is 720-pixel video recording to the phone’s five-megapixel camera. The phone is the thinnest ever with its only 10.5 millimeters, but is still a millimeter thicker than its rival, the iPhone 4. It has 8GB of internal storage and a microSDHC card slot, as well as a removable battery.

The new Bold 9900 phones are expected to ship in GSM (9900) as well as in dual-mode CDMA/GSM (9930) models in the summer. According to early leaks, the launch would be scheduled for July.

This claim has not been confirmed but might be corroborated by earlier reports. It is known for months that Apple was making most of its touchscreen orders in Taiwan. In one of its fiscal results call, RIM had declared that it expected to have figures reflecting the expenses related to the shipping of the PlayBook by the end of its quarter ending in February. The company expected to get revenues only in March, at the start of the next quarter, suggesting an intended shipping timeframe in March. However, it had to set a release date on April 19th.

The long history of the tablet had mixed performance. The PlayBook has been shown for the first time in September last year, but a six-month delay was immediately set. Although appreciated for its speed and modern operating system, the tablet has systematically been compared to the original iPad, assuming that Apple would not have an answer too soon. Unfortunately for RIM, both the first scheduled delay and the new gap attributed to Apple gave the latter the opportunity and enough time to launch a second version of the iPad, which may cancel most of the advantages the PlayBook claimed. RIM still rushes the release as it has no native e-mail client for a time following the launch.

According to a Reuters report, AdvisorShare fund manager Brad Lamensdorf said that RIM would possibly underperform for a certain time, until getting some traction back. The fund has kept a $500K short position in the company’s stock.

Other concerns of the analysts were related to the time-frame necessary for RIM to bring the QNX OS to BlackBerry phones. As analyst Brian Modoff from Deutsche Bank suggested, RIM is supposed to continue losing market share to Android, since QNX is not expected to come until 2012.

Other critics stressed there was a lack of a high-end smartphone able to compete with both the iPhone and a series of Android handsets. The company seems to face much lower margins and is losing market share both in North America and Europe and is mostly relying on revenue coming from the cheaper handsets it had sold abroad.

Ed Snyder, analyst at Charter Equity Research, cited the example of Google, which had three OS versions in a single year, forcing its partners to review their hardware the same number of times. He said that any company acting this way, and Apple was also included on long term, would probably lose.

It remains to see the revenue effects of the BlackBerry PlayBook, as its shipment is scheduled on April 19. The price of the new tablet will be $500.

An open beta version of the native SDK is also coming, which permits C and C++ code and also much faster performance, at lest in theory, than the usual Flash, Java and AIR code for PlayBook applications. The beta version should come with support from the self-titled game engine of Unity Technologies, to provide an easier porting of applications from other platforms.

As RIM said, both Android support and the beta version of the native SDK are expected to come in the summer. What Java engine RIM would use is not clear yet, but it is supposed to avoid Oracle’s lawsuit against Google regarding eventual copied Java code in the Dalvik engine of Android.

RIM’s move is controversial, as it would grant fewer incentives to applications written specifically for PlayBook and would favor porting over Android versions. The company is known to have experienced a shortage of application development and has often been criticized for its too complicated development process, which requires buying VMware to emulate applications. Android would instantly prop up the usable application count and would lure users who otherwise would have gone for Android 3.0 tablets.

A relative penury of development tools also emphasizes the rushed nature of this launch as well as RIM’s determination of having a competitor for the iPad, as fast as possible, on the market. Apple has already made deep incursions into the business area with its iPad and therefore many of them will not probably want to get a PlayBook in spite of RIM emphasizing security issues.

Other US stores like Office Depot, Radio Shack and Staples are expected to stock RIM’s tablet. A series of carriers officially supporting the new tablet include Sprint, AT&T and Verizon. The tablet is supposed to be available in more than 20,000 stores across the United States on release day.

Mike Lazaridis, RIM President and Co-CEO, appreciated the PlayBook as an “amazing tablet” praised for its multitasking, web experience offered as well as an ultra-portable design. Taking into consideration the high level of interest shown by customers, the company said to be pleased to work with an awesome lineup of retail partners.

The tablet sports a seven-inch display with a 1,024×600 resolution, a TI OMAP 4430 processor and 1GB of RAM. A three-megapixel front camera and another one on the rear, five-megapixel capable, complete the features of the new device. The tablet is able to support push e-mail, but only when it is paired to a phone using Bluetooth. The BlackBerry PlayBook is powered by a QNX OS mobile-optimized version, BlackBerry Tablet OS, capable of offering full multitasking. The web browser has support for Flash 10.1, while much of the operating system runs on Adobe’s AIR.

Research in Motion promised to ship the new tablet on the 19th of April in the United States and Canada. Other countries, as well as 3G and 4G versions would arrive at a date that is not defined as for now.

Thanks to its pricing, the BlackBerry PlayBook will be competitive with an iPad 2 in equivalent configuration. Deciding the date of the release is the final step to make after more than half a year wait for the launch. During this time, many of the announced advantages have disappeared. Although it has Flash and has a unique deep integration meant to improve performance, the tablet is more or less comparable in cost and speed to its larger Apple rival.

Developers who do not want to use their driver’s license must, however, present an alternative notarized form of identification. Businesses are still required to submit separate documentation (for example, businesses licenses or articles of incorporation.

The BBM expansion to Android could happen this year, as tip providers said. Although an iOS version was also part of the plan, it might not come out too soon after its Google equivalent.

The new strategy could be a major try for Research in Motion, which is believed to use the instant messaging as an incentive to lock in its customers and avoiding their switch to rival platforms. It has felt threatened by cross-platform messaging services, supposed to provide the same features and therefore has sued Kik in order to silence its competition. Kik is offering similar basic concepts of notifications and confirmations of messages in real time as BlackBerry Messenger, but is working on iOS and Android as well as on BlackBerry until RIM has forced it out. Kik was supported by RIM and was considered an ideal example in the App World until RIM understood that the service was being used by customers to migrate away from BBM.

RIM hopes to have an instant messaging protocol for almost any phone, not only for its own, and would favour the BlackBerry only by providing it with the best feature set. However, the limitation involves a certain risk as other clients can share videos and photos.

RIM has not had the opportunity to answer these claims.

Numbers are expected to vary to some extent, depending on the usage; these may not automatically reflect final numbers. RIM may have supported these claims itself, as the company loaded its PlayBook with an abnormally high-capacity battery; it is estimated that the tablet could match or even beat Apple’s iPad, despite the smaller size.

RIM hasn’t yet set an exact ship date for the BlackBerry PlayBook six months after the device’s debut. It is rumored that the company will be hurrying an April release which would need a patch even as it arrives on shelves (this information hasn’t been confirmed by other sources). Battery life could have been one of the specs which needed improvement; this is also one of the most frequent optimization tweaks required during late stages of a product release.

Bates said that the tablet will be out for the USA during the first quarter of this year, while Europe will get it during the second quarter; the UK will be one of the early countries. These remarks come in contradiction with recent rumors saying that the PlayBook will be arriving on April 10.

A one month old leak hints that the new tablet will be sold under a $500 price tag (16GB, Wi-Fi-only variant). The seven-inch BlackBerry PlayBook will be offering Adobe Flash 10.1 support and will benefit, as main specs, from dual HD-capable cameras, as well as from a 1GHz, dual-core processor.