Tablet computers are quite popular these days. To many users, the only tablet computer worthy of consideration is the iPad. To me, I personally didn't feel the need to get a tablet. I had an iPhone that served me well when I needed to get email, Internet access or other information on the run.
I did pick up an iPad 2 for my mom as an entertainment / gaming device at home. For the first time since I bought the iPad 2, my mom and I took it on the road for vacation. I used the iPad to surf online a bit while at the hotel.
What most people don't know if that I quietly picked up a Blackberry Playbook tablet computer a few months after buying the iPad 2. There was an opportunity to pick up the Playbook for free which I took advantage of. I didn't have any specific need for the Playbook but wanted to see what it could do.
The initial version of the operating systems was a little limited and buggy. I got a decent experience going online but apps were lacking. Since the Playbook was a WiFi only tablet, I was limited in the places I could use it (home or other places that had WiFi internet connections). As many people heard, the Playbook lacked email apps at launch and that was a major limitation.
With an updated operating system several months ago, the bugs were ironed out a bit and email apps were added. I download the update and gave the new operating system a spin. It was pretty interesting but I didn't have a major need to use the Playbook. When I was home, I would use my computer. When I was out, I would use my iPhone. My needs on the road didn't require a tablet. With that, my Playbook just sat on a table collecting dust until tonight.
I participate in a fantasy football league and for the first time in a few years, we were drafting players in person at a friend's house. The league had drafted online only the past few years so I could easily just use my computer. I wasn't sure if we were still going to use the online system even though we were meeting in person. It was with that thought that I decided to pull my Playbook out of the mothballs and bring it along to the draft.
As it turned out, there was only me, my friend and another guy at the house drafting while the other folks were drafting online. I asked my friend to grant me access to his wireless network and I powered up my Playbook.
After logging in and going to our fantasy football draft website, I was able to get into the draft room successfully. It was NOT the smoothest of experiences I've had though. There were some hiccups with the draft room though it wasn't a deal breaker. I figured out what I needed to do and just went with it. At the end of the day, the fact that I was able to participate and complete the draft entirely from the Playbook was good enough for me!
Since the draft room was Flash based, I probably would not have been able to participate in the draft with my iPhone (or an iPad). I was fortunate that the Playbook was around and had Flash support. While I understand why Apple did not want to support Flash, there are some cases where it is useful as I found out tonight.
So while the Playbook may not be used regularly by me, I did find one niche use case for it tonight. I may use the Playbook for monitoring my fantasy football team during the season as well. My iPhone is ok for that purpose but the bigger screen of the Playbook may be better.
My blog post will not necessarily turn around Blackberry's fortunes in the business market. However, hopefully anyone reading the posting will keep an open mind and find uses for the Playbook (and other tablets) that exist on the market.
