BlackBerry PlayBook to Sell Big Claims Analyst

RIM will ship 4 million BlackBerry PlayBook units by the end of 2011, according to statements made by RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky. Within one year of release, which RIM claims will be in Q1 2011, that number will swell to 6 million units.

While these numbers are huge, even if RIM is able to meet this ambitious projection, total shipments will still be well below the outrageous sales of Apple's iPad, which had shipped 15 million units by the end of last quarter.
Abramsky's numbers far exceed other predictions, which have been in the ballpark of 1 million.

The basis for Abramsky's analysis comes from a survey by RBC after CES that asked 1,100 people if they were likely to buy a PlayBook, with 6% responding affirmatively. A similar survey conducted in February, 2010 asked people the same question about the iPad, with twice as many showing significant interest.
Prior to CES, the PlayBook received some bad press after negative reports came out about its battery life. After a CES showing that made a postiive impression on TabletPCReview, we received an up-close and hands-on demo at a recent RIM meeting with press and analysts.