Muted debut for Blackberry Playbook in Singapore

A press release issued centrally by RIM announced that the Blackberry PlayBook tablet became available in Singapore on 23 June 2011 from SingTel, M1, and StarHub, as well as a number of nation-wide retail stores.

Describing the PlayBook as an "incredibly powerful and feature-rich tablet that is ideal for both business and personal use", RIM’s regional managing director Gregory Wade said, “With a growing number of stores across Singapore featuring the BlackBerry PlayBook, we welcome customers to try it out for themselves.”

Above-the-line marketing activity over the weekend came from major telcos StarHub and M1, offering the new tablet bundled with services and, in one instance, free with a Blackberry smartphone and subscription plan.

Blackberry’s PR firm Lewis PR said that an official trade launch had taken place in Singapore back on 8 June. Held at the Red Dot Design Museum, attendees were trade partners, press, bloggers and some local celebrities.

In India meanwhile, Bollywood A-lister Salman Kahn graced the Playbook’s launch event at the Grand Hyatt Santacruz in Mumbai. The PlayBook is being distributed nationally through Redington India and Ingram Micro, initially in 1,000 retail stores across eight cities, the company said in a statement.

Comparisons are being drawn between the launch of, and reaction to, Apple's iPad2 tablet - which saw demand far exceeding supply.