RIM BlackBerry PlayBook: The first apps

Ultimately the success or failure of the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will rest on the apps that fill its sharp, snappy 7-inch touchscreen. According to RIM, 3000 BlackBerry Tablet OS apps are in the pipeline; but even a day before the PlayBook went on sale, most of the major names in mobile apps were missing from the BlackBerry AppWorld store. RIM says that this state of affairs will change once the PlayBook hits stores. In the meantime, here’s a potpourri of apps that do exist--and that caught our attention. The available apps vary in quality from a lame, noninteractive guide to shoe sizes to a well-researched, map-assisted Australian public toilet directory to sophisticated apps from Slacker (included in this slideshow), Kobo, and Microsoft’s Bing.