Staples Black Friday 2011 sale brings a $199 BlackBerry PlayBook

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Handhelds, Hot Deals

It worked for the HP TouchPad, why not the BlackBerry PlayBook? A sneak peek at the Staples Black Friday 2011 deals (check out our Black Friday 2011 page!)shows a huge price drop on Research in Motion's struggling tablet: just $199 for the 16GB version.

That's a $300 price drop from when the 16GB PlayBook made its debut in April.

Meanwhile, all versions of the PlayBook will get a discount in Canada: $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB. That will apparently run from Nov. 18 to Dec 1.

This is not the first price cut for the PlayBook. In early September, Best Buy took $150 off the price of the 64GB device. Later that month, Staples and Office Depot reduced the price of all three versions of the 7-inch tablet by $100 and offered an additional $100 discount with a mail-in rebate.

Last month, meanwhile, RIM offered BlackBerry business customers a "buy two, get one free" deal on the PlayBook until Dec. 31.

Those price drops and lackluster sales prompted speculation that RIM would drop the PlayBook altogether, but RIM insisted it remains committed to the tablet. After Adobe decided to ditch Flash for the mobile Web, meanwhile, RIM pledged to continue developing Flash for the PlayBook.

Earlier this year, HP announced that it would ditch support for webOS-based devices like the HP TouchPad tablet. Subsequent fire sales—$99 for the 16GB and $150 for the 32GB—prompted a rush on the devices, with continued sales of the devices cropping up as retailers deplete supply.

This article, written by Chloe Albanesius, originally appeared on PCMag.com and is republished on Gear Live with the permission of Ziff Davis, Inc.