BlackBerry's PlayBook tablet may face uphill battle

The BlackBerry PlayBook will support Android apps -- but will that be enough to make it a hit? STORY HIGHLIGHTSBlackBerry's PlayBook tablet hits stores April 19 and will start at $499In an effort to make the PlayBook more attractive, BlackBerry is opening it to Android appsBut few Android app developers may be willing to jump through hurdles for an unproven tablet The PlayBook also falls short in terms of supporting integrated BlackBerry messaging servicesRELATED TOPICSBlackBerry Mobile DevicesAppsTablet ComputersEditor's note: Amy Gahran writes about mobile tech for CNN.com. She is a San Francisco Bay Area writer and media consultant whose blog, Contentious.com, explores how people communicate in the online age.

(CNN) -- Once the most popular smartphone, the BlackBerry has been losing ground in the past year to iPhone and Android models. So Research in Motion is trying to carve out a new market with the PlayBook (the upcoming BlackBerry tablet) due to hit stores in the U.S. and Canada on April 19. Prices start at $499, same as for the iPad 2.

However, the BlackBerry operating system is definitely not on the cutting edge of smartphone platforms. So there's been ample skepticism about how attractive a BlackBerry tablet might be to consumers, especially compared with slick offerings such as Apple's iPad and the growing array of Android tablets.

On March 24, in a move apparently aimed at compensating for the weaknesses of the BlackBerry OS and relatively lean BlackBerry App World offerings, RIM announced that the PlayBook will support Android apps, as well as the Java-based apps that currently run on BlackBerry smartphones.

According to the news release, "RIM will launch two optional 'app players' that provide an application run-time environment for BlackBerry Java apps and Android v2.3 apps. These new app players will allow users to download BlackBerry Java apps and Android apps from BlackBerry App World and run them on their BlackBerry PlayBook."

However, the release also notes that "The new app players for the BlackBerry PlayBook are expected to be available from BlackBerry App World this summer."

So if you rush out to buy a PlayBook this spring, you'll have to wait a few months to get those Android apps and see how well they run.

Crackberry clarified, "This doesn't mean that RIM is working with Google to bring Android marketplace to BlackBerry, but rather that developers who have made Android apps can sign up as BlackBerry App World developers (which is now free of charge) and distribute their apps to BlackBerry PlayBook owners via App World."

And as to the user experience, Crackberry notes, "Because these Android Apps and BlackBerry Smartphone apps will be running in a sandboxed environment, to use RIM's vocabulary we can likely expect the experience to be more along the lines of simple open-and-use 'apps' rather than the deeply integrated 'super apps' that RIM often likes to talk about."

Media analyst Jean-Louis Gassée sharply criticized RIM's app strategy for the PlayBook, as well as RIM's entire business approach of late. He points out that touting the PlayBook as running Android apps is misleading, since consumers won't be able to download apps from the Android app market and run them on the PlayBook.

Rather, developers will have to adapt their Android apps to run within the PlayBook's app player and then get them approved to be offered in the BlackBerry App World, a hurdle few developers are likely to be willing to jump for a new, unproven tablet with established competition.

"Launching what is clearly an immature product and trying to compensate for a dearth of applications with a misleading claim of compatibility with the wrong version of Android is insane," Gassée wrote.

I'm puzzled by the market strategy here. Clearly, RIM is using the PlayBook to push hard to get more users in the consumer media and gaming market. But that represents a huge away shift from the company's original (and still strong) market base, which is mostly corporate users focused on messaging services.

On that front, there's a further complication: The PlayBook reportedly falls short in terms of supporting the integrated messaging services that die-hard BlackBerry fans love.

According to Information Week: "The PlayBook will first launch in a Wi-Fi only configuration (Sprint will sell a WiMax version this summer). That means the PlayBook can only snag emails and other data when in range of Wi-Fi hotspots. Email, contacts, and calendar data are not 'live' on the PlayBook as they are on a regular BlackBerry. In fact, the only way to access live corporate PIM data is to tether a BlackBerry to the PlayBook via Bluetooth. The PlayBook will then mirror whatever data is on the BlackBerry."

This sounds like a huge drawback for RIM's existing business users. It means that in order to take advantage of the features BlackBerry users love, they'll have to carry around both devices and take the time to tether them.

It's good that RIM is branching out in new directions, and a tablet makes sense. But why not build on the company's strengths to create a robust tablet experience for business users rather than go flailing after the consumer and gaming markets, a strategy that pits the PlayBook squarely against the iPad? Doesn't sound like a fair fight.

The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of Amy Gahran.

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New twist in Wisconsin collective bargaining battle

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker pushed for legislation curbing the collective bargaining rights of state employees in unions. STORY HIGHLIGHTSLaw that curbs collective bargaining rights is publishedJudge who blocked law ordered it not be published by secretary of stateBut bill supporters say legislative office could publish itRELATED TOPICSWisconsinCollective BargainingScott Walker (CNN) -- The litigious and contentious battle in Wisconsin over collective bargaining rights has a new twist -- the publishing of the law despite a judge's order against such a move.

That left lawmakers and observers wondering Saturday whether the law had taken effect.

This latest drama started Friday afternoon when the state's Legislative Reference Bureau published the controversial act that curbs the collective bargaining rights of most employees.

The Legislature's website Saturday noted the publication of the law and cited these two points:

-- Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi on March 18 halted enactment of the law and forbade Secretary of State Douglas La Follette from publishing the law.

-- Wisconsin law requires the Legislative Reference Bureau to publish every act within 10 days of its passage.

"There was no temporary restraining order on the Legislative Reference Bureau from publishing, only on the secretary of state," Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald told CNN affiliate WISN. "There was no reason that the (bureau) could not publish, and actually has an obligation to do that, as they did today (Friday)."

The state's Department of Justice, headed by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, issued a statement Friday saying that "no action by the Secretary of State is required by this section for the legislative reference bureau to publish an Act."

Van Hollen on Monday asked the state's 4th District Court of Appeals to lift Sumi's temporary restraining order halting enforcement of the act.

Sumi issued the injunction in response to a suit filed by a Democratic district attorney alleging that Republican legislators violated the state's open meetings law by calling a committee meeting to amend GOP Gov. Scott Walker's budget bill without providing the public 24-hour advance notice.

The amended bill, which had been stalled for weeks by 14 Democratic state senators who left Wisconsin to prevent a quorum -- and thus a vote on the measure -- then sailed to easy passage in both chambers of the Legislature.

In the appeal, Van Hollen argues that Sumi has no jurisdiction over state lawmakers or Wisconsin's secretary of state, all of whom have sovereign immunity. Sumi's order bars La Follette from publishing the new law.

The public brouhaha over Walker's $137 million budget repair bill all but shut down the Wisconsin state Legislature for weeks. It also drew protesters by the tens of thousands, among them union supporters and public employees, who called the proposed measure an attack on workers.

The Wisconsin State Employees Union Council 24 blasted the publishing of the law.

"By attempting to unilaterally publish their bill eliminating the rights of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites, (Gov.) Walker and his cronies have unquestionably violated the laws of this state to further their extreme overreach for absolute power over our state's people."

Democratic state Sen. Chris Larson said, "The courts are going to step in again and say, 'No, you have to follow the letter of the law' and again they broke it. ... I think it's pretty shameless of Walker and the Republicans."

Republican Rep. Robin Vos disagreed.

"We have the attorney general telling us we are doing everything legal," Vos told WISN. "And I am positive, as I have been before, that we'll move forward. We'll show that this was done according to the letter of the law, and people will realize this was a necessary step forward."

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