RIM is suffering from being unable to sell remaining PlayBook tablet inventory-- so, doing like HP, it slashes PlayBook prices by around $300 per model.

The reduction in prices follows the company failing reach financial Q3 2012 targets, with a pre-tax provision of approximately $485 million. Meanwhile Q3 PlayBook sales reach 150000-- down from 25000 in Q2 and 500000 in Q1.

Still, RIM is not giving up on the tablet market... yet. Together with hopes of price slashing boosting consumer adoption (as it usually does, at least on the short-term), RIM promises the long-awaited 2.0 upgrade to the PlayBook OS will be available on February 2012.

HP not only shifted remaining TouchPad inventory through heavily reduced prices, it even produced one last run of the now-abandoned tablet to "meet unfulfilled demand."

Meanwhile, RIM has even more troubles-- unruly employees. A pair of RIM employees forced a non-stop Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to stop in Vancouver (disrupting travel plans for over 300 people) after downing a drink too many. The result? A pair of fines worth $35878 each and a suspension from the company.

Go RIM 3rd Quarter Provision Related to PlayBook Inventory

Go Arise From the Grave: The TouchPad is (sort of) Back

Go Drunk RIM Employees Disrupt Beijing-Bound Flight

As RIM loses share in the enterprise mobile market, the company embraces all platforms instead-- announcing Mobile Fusion, a mobile device management system supporting not only Blackberry OS, but also iOS and Android. 

According to a recent iPass study, the iPhone is the current enterprise mobile device of choice. 

Mobile Fusion works with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and allows administrators to manage both company- and employee-owned devices (including BlackBerries, iPhones, iPads, and Android devices) through a unified web-based interface. 

The software covers asset management, user- and group-based administration, application and software management and lost device protection functions (remote lock and wiping). It will also help boost the Playbook a bit-- allowing Blackberry phone-style "push" email. 

The announcement seems to confirm what RIM platform product marketing director Anthony Payne said at the EMEA CompTIA Member Conference-- vendors and resellers need to tailor solutions to their customers, as platform takes second place to "enabling" the user. 

Mobile Fusion is currently in closed beta testing with a few select RIM customers, before a wider beta program on January 2012

Go Announcing BlackBerry Mobile Fusion

Go CompTIA Discusses Mobile Enterprise

Apple and Samsung were never the best of friends, not with still ongoing months-long copyright infringement litigation between the two. And now Samsung stabs at Apple fans with the latest Galaxy S II advert.

The advert in question concentrates on mocking the Apple affacionados queueing to get (presumably) the iPhone 4S, while "regular" Galaxy S II-using folks pass by. "This phone... is amazing," one of them says as the queuers look on. 

"The Next Big Thing is Already Here," the advert concludes. Which is true, in a way-- the Galaxy is physically huge compared to other phones. 

Clearly Samsung wants to get first time smartphone buyers, rather than try to convince iPhone users to switch phones. And a few sneaky digs at Apple (rather than, you know, show the actual device the advert should be selling) never hurt, right?

Or maybe Samsung is still hurting after getting dumped by Apple?

Amazon might have entered the tablet jungle with the Kindle Fire, but is it preparing to take on the mobile phone market? It appears to be so, at least according to Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney. 

The analyst writes “Based on our supply chain channel checks in Asia led by Kevin Chang, Citi’s Taipei-based hardware research analyst, we believe an Amazon Smartphone will be launched in 4Q12."

According to Mahaney, Amazon is developing the phone-- a "mid-end" handset carrying a last-gen TI OMAP 4 processor-- with help from Foxconn and manufacturing by the Hon Hai TMS business group (the one making the Kindle and the Kindle Fire). 

It will cost around $150-170 to build, and "it’s conceivable that the company will sell it for something close to that price," Mahaney says. Even for less, if Amazon is willing to make losses. 

As for the OS, the analyst fails to give any details, so one might assume Amazon will simply use the Android version the Kindle Fire uses... but then again, rumours do say Amazon has webOS maker Palm on its wish list. A purchase that would actually make a lot of sense, as it means sidestepping the OS royalty payments Microsoft squeezes from other Android handset makers...

Not to mention webOS remains a fairly slick and capable mobile OS (unlike the Android version inside the Kindle Fire, the unkind might add). 

Amazon is not the only vendor gunning for Palm-- the list of potential buyers also includes RIM, IBM, Intel and even Oracle. But wouldn't the price of such a purchase (one surely totalling hundreds of millions) end up reflected in the price of an Amazon smartphone?

And, ultimately, will customers bother investing in yet another smartphone and surrounding ecosystem?

Never let it be said the mobile market is becoming boring...

Go Amazon Readying Smartphone for Next Year, Citigroup Says (Bloomberg)