Blackberry PlayBook
Blackberry PlayBook

In announcing new details about the BlackBerry PlayBook recently, Research In Motion (RIM) co-CEO Jim Balsillie declared that the PlayBook “is a game changer.” But will it be literally so for online casino players?

The PlayBook is clearly a response to the iPad, so RIM is slightly in the hole already – and this hole is only threatening to deepen underneath the tech company.

The Apple iPad got blackjack games released for free back in July of this year; and the All Slots mobile casino now available to Apple iPad users can’t be making RIM marketers wishing to scoop up the online gaming crowd happy – After all, All Slots is typically cutting-edge on this stuff, implying that casinos powered by Microgaming and others will soon be designing iPad-specific casino software.

A big plus for PlayBook’s prospects among BlackBerry users at least is that, at first, the PlayBook will access cellular networks only by linking to a BlackBerry phone – this allows users free access.

The big difference of the PlayBook, however, is that online casinos may not even need to create a new format for the device: While Apple does not support Flash on its mobile devices, PlayBook will, meaning that no-download casinos will look picture-perfect on its screen.

The RIM PlayBook is due to be available to consumers in early 2011.