Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry PlayBook, the tablet designed to compete with the iPad from Steve Jobs’ Apple Inc., is winning corporate customers months before its debut.
Insurer Sun Life Financial Inc. has agreed to buy as many as 1,000 PlayBooks, and the Canadian banking unit of ING Groep NV also says it is committed to purchasing the device. Companies including Manulife Financial Corp. are testing the product, scheduled to go on sale next quarter.
RIM first found success selling its BlackBerry smartphone to companies and is counting on such endorsements as it tries to challenge Apple’s dominance of the booming tablet market. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is betting on the PlayBook’s security features, such as e-mail encryption, to win over companies accustomed to working with the BlackBerry.
“The encryption was really the clincher in opting for the PlayBook,” said Tom Reid, a Sun Life senior vice president. Sun Life plans to buy 500 to 1,000 PlayBooks initially and may boost that number as it begins to use it more widely, he said.
Apple declined to comment, spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said.
Last month, Apple said more than 65 percent of the Fortune 100 companies are deploying or piloting the iPad, including Procter & Gamble Co., Lowe’s Cos. and Hyatt Hotels Corp.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days after the product debuted in April, showing there’s demand for a device that straddles the gap between laptops and smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone. Apple had a 95 percent share of the tablet market last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.
