RIM delays native PlayBook email until 2012

Users left to Bridge the gap.

 “[W]e’ve made the difficult decision to wait to launch BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers and end-users,” David Smith RIM’s senior vice president of BlackBerry PlayBook announced on the company blog Wednesday.

The delay will leave PlayBook users stuck with the Bridge app to access email on the device.

The February PlayBook OS 2.0 update is expected to include “advanced integrated email, calendar and contact apps”, but RIM will drop BlackBerry Messenger fron that release, said Smith.

RIM reportedly had problems creating a system that allowed a PlayBook and a smartphone to share the same PIN, Boy Genius Report (BGR) reported Tuesday, noting the February 2012 time frame.  

The delays are unlikely to help the smartphone maker’s efforts to regain consumer trust after its extended BBM outage earlier this month.

In September RIM revealed it would embark on a range of discounts to help clear a reported 800,000 unit stockpile of unsold PlayBook devices. 

RIM's OS delay came a day after Amazon chief Jeff Bezos said it is boosting production of its low-cost Kindle Fire tablet by "millions" to fulfill customer orders.