Apple has proved with the iPhone and iPad that great marketing is the key to success when it comes to new consumer electronics. But can Research In Motion put together a strong enough marketing strategy to make its BlackBerry PlayBook succeed?

Currently, RIM has a television commercial that describes its new tablet as an ?amplified BlackBerry.? The TV spot focuses on the device?s camera, something that Apple?s iPad lacks, and places emphasis on the tablet's ability to multitask and support Flash.

?RIM has an opportunity to augment the BlackBerry smartphones in the enterprise space,? said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis of consumer technology at The NPD Group, New York. ?While the PlayBook will eventually be an independent device, it wants to extend functionality on the go.

?RIM must also position the PlayBook as a solution to make the most out of mobile enterprise applications and as a defense against the Apple and Android operating systems,? he said.

Here is a video of the TV spot:
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Tablet war
According to Noah Elkin, senior analyst at eMarketer, New York, the success of the iPad is shaping 2010 into the year of the tablet.

Apple?s success stems from the quality of its products, which give consumers reassurance in terms of the quality of the iPad.

?Apple succeeded in resurrecting a moribund form factor and endowing it with new life and a broader appeal,? Mr. Elkin said in a blog post. ?Much of that appeal stems from familiarity: the iPad is not only immediately recognizable to the millions of iPhone and iPod users but also draws from the same pool of content ? music, games, video, apps ? on which owners of other Apple products have come to rely.?

Mr. Elkin forecasts that a whole raft of tablets will be introduced in the next year, as manufacturers play catch-up with Apple.

?For the most part, the tablet market is likely to emerge as another battleground in the increasingly fierce mobile OS war between Apple and Google,? Mr. Elkin said in his blog post.

?As in the smartphone market, Apple has some advantage because the iTunes and App Store have a larger pool of content than Android Market, but the increasing scale of Android devices is helping give the Android content marketplace greater appeal,? he said.

Enterprise solutions
BlackBerry?s strategy for success is simple. It has positioned its new tablet as something very different than Apple?s iPad.

RIM is targeting enterprise professionals as well as every day consumers.

The enterprise professional has already grown accustomed to the BlackBerry smartphone. So the PlayBook undoubtedly is recognizable to the millions of BlackBerry users.

It also draws from the same pool of content as BlackBerry smartphone devices, on which owners have come to rely on.

But is that enough for the tablet to succeed?

?It opens up new possibilities, but but developers care about installed base and momentum and RIM is starting from zero,? NPD?s Mr. Rubin said. ?The debut of the QNX platform, though, heralds a new foundation for RIM that will eventually make its way back to the handset.
 
?The tablet is certainly more of a content consumption device when compared to a notebook or netbook, but the PlayBook will have more of a productivity bent,? he said. ?More of the productivity will be focused around collaboration and the cloud than raw document production as on a notebook.?