Skip to main content

RIM issues recall on nearly 1,000 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks

BlackBerry PlayBookHere’s a public service announcement for owners of a recently purchased BlackBerry PlayBook. If your new toy came from Staples, you’re going to want to follow this link to a list of serial numbers compiled by Engadget. Why? It seems that a faulty batch of those lovely PlayBooks escaped into the wild and landed at the office supply chain.

The news comes from an internal Staples document stating that “approximately 900 units of the BlackBerry PlayBook have been determined to be faulty. The vendor has provided the serial numbers so that we can pull these off the floor and return immediately.” The sheet also says that leaving these items on store shelves “may result in a customer purchasing a unit that will not operate.” No further information is provided, though since some of these models have presumably been purchased — the PlayBook launched in April and has been doing quite well so far — it’s something we can expect to see Research In Motion comment publicly on soon.

Related Videos

Engadget’s list contains 935 serial numbers alleged to be affected by whatever the hardware fault is. Though if you bought yours at Staples and it doesn’t work, or suddenly stopped working, or became self-aware and tried to kill you, it’s probably a safe bet to just bring it back to the store and ask for a replacement. Unless it is currently in the process of trying to kill you, in which case you’ve likely got a whole other set of problems to worry about right now.

Kidding aside: Staples shoppers who bought a PlayBook recently, go and check that list out, whether or not your tablet is actually working.

Editors' Recommendations

BlackBerry BBC-100-1 news and rumors
This leaked image could be our first look at the upcoming BlackBerry BBC-100-1
BlackBerry Mercury Hands On

Apparently, all of our predictions about BlackBerry finally exiting the smartphone business were wrong. BlackBerry is preparing to launch a number of new phones this year, and while it did launch the KeyOne at MWC 2017, that won't mark the end of BlackBerry's new releases for the year.

In fact, we've been hearing rumors of another device called the BlackBerry BBC-100-1, and we may finally have a look at what the specs of the device are. Here's everything we know about the BlackBerry BBC-100-1 so far.

Read more
BlackBerry Messenger plays an important part in uncovering Brazilian corruption scandal
bbm loyal user base instagram whatsapp message retraction

If you're planning some sort of scandal, you might want to avoid using messaging services. Case in point: BlackBerry Messenger played a vital role in uncovering a large corruption scandal in Brazil, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Up until now, Brazilian prosecutors relied on confessions from company insiders in order to expose a money skimming operation, conducted between money launderers and clients ranging from Brazilian lawmakers to construction contractors. However, law enforcement authorities were able to obtain thousands of BBM messages sent between those involved to further implicate those involved in the scheme.

Read more
Typo ordered to pay BlackBerry nearly $1m
blackberry sues typo over iphone case version 1424174450

It's all just got a bit messy for the Ryan Seacrest-funded company behind BlackBerry-like keyboard Typo.

A California judge on Wednesday ordered it to cough up a hefty $860,000 after ruling it'd violated a court-ordered preliminary injunction.

Read more