Analyst: RIM Building 2.5 Million BlackPads for Q4

12 Hot New Tablets Hitting the Market

Yesterday it was reported that Research in Motion plans to unveil its BlackPad tablet next week. Today eWEEK reports that Susquehanna Research analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro has learned from a source that RIM is building 2.5 million tablets for the last quarter of 2010 and that the company plans to target enterprise customers, not consumers. A Q4 launch would give the device a head start on Cisco's Cius, which isn't due until early 2011.

Regardless of whether RIM plans to rival the iPad, all new tablets will be held up to the standard it has set since last April. Richi Jennings at Computerworld culled the blogosphere for the inevitable BlackPad v iPad comparisons. Several analysts agree the RIM's best chance for success is launching a tablet that focuses on business users and content creation, since the iPad has already seemingly cornered the market on consumers and content consumption, notes the International Business Times.