RIM Recalls 1,000 PlayBooks For Faulty Software

RIM has issued an official statement saying that it has determined that one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, the 16GB model shipped with an OS build that resulted on the devices being unable to properly load software on initial set-up. This is another hiccup in the somewhat rocky launch of the PlayBook (review here), calling into question the confident tagline RIM is using: "Amateur hour is over." More on this story after the cut.Engadget found an image this weekend from an internal Staples document showing that 900 Playbooks had some kind of unexplained fault and recalling them. Now we have the official word from RIM, upping the number to 1,000. This is a somewhat small percentage, in comparison to the amount of PlayBooks sold, but not insignificant.

RIM sold 50,000 PlayBooks on the first day, and that was a month ago, so though we don't have official sales numbers to determine the total number sold, we can infer that the number is at least higher than 50,000. RIM also stated that the majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel, and so are not yet in the hands of consumers. RIM is working to replace the devices.

Official statement:

RIM determined that approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook tablets (16 GB) were shipped with an OS build that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up.

The majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel and haven't reached customers. RIM is working to replace the affected devices.

In the small number of cases where a customer received a PlayBook that is unable to properly load software upon initial set-up, they can contact RIM for assistance.