A White War between BlackPad and iPad?

Research In Motion Ltd, the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, said it will begin selling a tablet computer in North America in the first quarter for “under” $ 500 as it takes on Apple Inc.’s iPad.
As we know the iPad is a tablet computer designed and developed by Apple. It is particularly marketed as a platform for audio and visual media such as books, periodicals, movies, music, and games, as well as web content. If we want to transfer copy and transfer files from iPad and other portable devices such as iPod, iPhone to computer without iTunes, backup files on your hard disk easily, then we can choose an ipad to computer transfer for us. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, increased its market share in tablet computers to 95 percent in the third quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Global tablet sales rose 26 percent from the previous period to 4.4 million units, with Apple selling 4.19 million iPads, the researcher said last week.
Given that, RIM can’t await their doom. So the rumuor spreads that RIM will be launching its own tablet computer in the near future that can provide the similar function for ipad users to copy music from ipad to computer. And through leaks and speculation, many commentators have identified its probable characteristics: 7-inch touch screen, Marvell based ARM chip (likely the same one powering the Torch), running the QNX operating system (not BlackBerryB OS 6), Wi-Fi but no 3G radio (works on 3G by tethering to a BlackBerry device).
It seems that everyone is comparing the BlackPad with the iPad and saying the BlackPad won’t be competitive. This is not a valid assumption. I don’t expect the BlackPad (or whatever it’s finally called) to compete directly with iPads and Android tablets in the general consumer space. RIM is savvier than that and has done its homework. Its primary target is business users. So will there be some challenges for RIM in the market? Sure. But it won’t be the disaster that many predict. I expect it to be successful in the rather large niche it is targeting.
There is rumour saying that the BlackPad will run a QNX OS and not the newly released BlackBerry OS 6. There are two key two issues with that approach. First, does it tie into the BES/BB infrastructure so companies can make sure they are compatible with existing BlackBerry installations for deployment, management, security, etc.? And does BlackPad have the needed business apps, or is it targeted at the consumer space?
Many commentators have indicated that running the QNX OS means there will be few apps available for the device. This is not an accurate assumption. I expect many applications to be available for the device from day one, as it is highly likely it will include a Java Virtual Machine, WebKit browser. It may even include VoIP (making it compatible with MVS) and video conferencing. So BlackPad will likely come to market with loads of potential apps and be largely BlackBerry -apps-compatible as well.
RIM may sell the Playbook through retail stores of Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. in the U.S. as well through carriers, Balsillie said.