250,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets sold to date, RBC says
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RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mike Abramsky believes RIM has sold approximately 250,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets to date. In a note to investors on Wednesday, the analyst points to channel checks in stating PlayBook sales have remained steady since the device's launch on April 19th. If these estimates are accurate, RIM's PlayBook is handily outselling the XOOM , Motorola's flagship Honeycomb tablet, which sold 250,000 units in its first two months of availability. Abramsky believes RIM could move 500,000 units during RIM's fiscal first quarter, though we would note that RIM's current pace is way off RBC's initial projections of 4 million units in 2011 and 6 million units total in the PlayBook's first 12 months of availability. RBC later lowered its projections down to 3 million units in 2011 but at the current pace of 250,000 units per month, RIM is on track to sell just over 2 million units this year. Abramsky also notes that BlackBerry smartphone sales are slowing according to checks, and he now projects shipments to decline 9% from last quarter to 13.5 million units, which is in line with guidance.
Updated to reflect RBC's revised PlayBook estimates.