Context is a British electronics distribution specialist, that made an interesting revealing today, claiming that RIM’s PlayBook tablet outsold Apple’s latest iPad during the last two months of 2012, it seems. Apple does have its own retail stores in the UK, obviously, but the sales channels monitored by Context take up the majority of the electronics distribution in the UK.
Context is claiming that the PlayBook moved 160,000 units and that the iPad 4 only moved 113,000 units in the Christmas time frame, so RIM had a great run. All the iPad models combined sold around 203,000 units. The recommended retail price of the Playbook is most likely the crucial factor in buying one: 129 quid, compared to the iPad 4’s 399 quid. The PlayBook’s strong sales show that cheap tablets are more than a fad and they’re here to stay. It would be interesting to also see some Nexus 7 sales, just out of curiosity.
It appears that sales from Argos and Carphone Warehouse showed the same trend. RIM also offers a bit profit margin to retailers, in order to make them push the tablet harder and will probably do the same for its upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS handsets. And keep in mind that the PlayBook is almost 2 years old now… and it’s still appealing.
