While Best Buy has indicated that RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablet sales have exceeded expectations, another is reportedly painting a very different picture. According to BGR.com, a “trusted source from a major big box retailer” reports sales have fallen significantly short of expectations and up to 90% short of internal sales targets. The source adds that returns are also much higher, coming in at about 7%, a figure higher than those seen for the Motorola XOOM.
RIM quickly responded to the story with a statement that read:
The source of the reported comment is anonymous and unknown to RIM, but the comment is certainly inconsistent with the positive feedback we have received from our main retail partners. As previously indicated, RIM will provide a business update on BlackBerry PlayBook results on June 16.
The report also goes against recent shipment estimates that indicate that RIM may have shipped some 250,000 PlayBooks since its launch about a month ago.