The BlackBerry PlayBook is coming!  For months, there has been a great deal of speculation about RIM’s launch of a tablet product to compete with Apples iPad.  To the delight of many, RIM announced the new PlayBook to attendees of their developers conference in San Francisco this week.

Although some rumors named the device the BlackPad, RIM officially showed off the PlayBook and received some great feedback.  They announced an expected launch of the BlackBerry tablet to happen around early 2011 in the U.S. and mid-2010 overseas.

Here are some of the specifications of the PlayBook:

• 7” LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

We should be able to see what changes or improvements are made over the course of the next year or so.  But for many BlackBerry fans, the news of the PlayBook being launched in the near future is very exciting itself!

What are your thoughts on the PlayBook?  Do you plan on getting one once they are released?