RIM discontinues 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook, but 'remains committed to tablet space'

Ottawa, June 9 (ANI): BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has planned to discontinue the 16GB version of its PlayBook tablet.

The firm said it was still 'committed to the tablet space' and would continue to ship the 32GB and 64GB versions of the BlackBerry PlayBook.

"There is more value for our customers in the higher capacity models and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here," RIM said in a statement.

According to The Telegraph, it is thought that the decision to cut the 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook model could be a cost-cutting measure.

The tablet computer was released last year, but has been viewed by analysts as a failure.

In January, the Canada-based firm reduced the price of all PlayBook models, cutting the 64GB version to 299 dollars in the US, less than half of its 699 dollar launch price.

In December 2011, RIM wrote down 485 million dollars on the value of its PlayBook inventory. (ANI)