The launch of Research In Motion's BlackBerry Playbook tablet is being pushed back to the May quarter, thanks to crappy battery life, says Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu.
Wu says in a note picked up at All Things D he is hearing from sources the battery on the PlayBook only lasts a few hours. Since the iPad does ten hours, this is devastating news for RIM, if true. (One gossipy source talking to Wu isn't exactly gospel.)
Wu says in his note, "Keep in mind that QNX (the OS on which PlayBook runs) wasn’t originally designed for mobile environments but rather for devices like network equipment and automobiles where battery life isn’t as much a constraint."
John Paczkowski at ATD says RIM will have to slap on a bigger battery, making the tablet heavier, if this is true.
Update: RIM has since denied the claim about its battery life. It says anyone claiming a weak battery is only playing with a demo unit.
