Blackberry PlayBook Up for Pre-orders at OfficeMax

OfficeMax has joined other major retailers who are offering RIM's PlayBook tablet for pre-order. The device is expected to launch on April 19th, but customers can pre-order the 16GB version for $499.

The manufacturer is set to officially introduce the tablet on the market during a special event scheduled for next Thursday in New York City.

Research in Motion will also release 32GB and 64GB higher capacity models of the PlayBook, which will cost $599 and $699 respectively.

Just like the 16GB tablet, the improved versions will be available for purchase on April 19th, but they're not listed for pre-order by OfficeMax at the moment.

Currently, RIM's Blackberry PlayBook tablet is available for pre-order from Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, Office Depot, Staples and Future Shop stores across the U.S. and Canada.

However, it looks like there won't be a competition this time, as all retailers will provide the device for the same price.

RIM expects to make a comeback with PlayBook, but the company's officials admit that if the tablet had been released a little sooner, the general perception of the company would be more positive.

Furthermore, the device faces fierce competition from other manufacturers who have already released their tablets on the market. Also, the matter of size is something to take into consideration as well.

Even though the PlayBook comes in a small size (130 x 194 x 10 mm), RIM's first QNX-based tablet is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor.

As a reminder, the tablet has a 7-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colors support and 600 x 1024 pixels resolution.

In addition to its ultra-portable design, the tablet is one of the few to offer true multitasking, as well as out-of-the-box enterprise support.

Other highlights of the PlayBook include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity, 1 GB RAM, Adobe Flash 10.1 support, 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, as well as 3-megapixel front facing camera.