Research In Motion has released a new operating system for its tablet device, Playbook. Chief among the changes is the support for productivity apps—namely email, calendering and contacts. The question is, though, should email marketers spend the additional effort to optimize for this device?

Previously, Playbook users had to synch with their BlackBerry handhelds to read email in a secure environment—although earlier this year, researchers uncovered a vulnerability in the way the Playbook connected to corporate emails while in synch mode. The flaw allowed hackers to tap into the Bluetooth connection linking Playbook and the BlackBerry smartphone while in a Bridge session. (via PC Magazine).

Another Calculation for Email Marketers?

With PlayBook now able to access emails directly, presumably more of its users will read emails from the device. The question for email marketers is whether they should focus on this constituency with optimized formats for the PlayBook.

At one time, this question would have been a no-brainer—RIM was the gold standard in mobile computing for government and corporate use.

However, BlackBerry has been losing ground to iOS and Android for some time and there is little indication to believe that trend will reverse. According to a Jumptap report released in January 2012, Blackberry lost ground again for the month, falling 38% from 26% to 16% share. Android also accounted for one-quarter of the requests on the mobile web, up from 19% in October, with Blackberry’s share of the requests on the mobile web also plummeted during that time period, from 34% to 19% share.