[UPDATE 2/3/2012 4:00PM] Apparently the BlackBerry community's response to this original offer was huge. So huge in fact that RIM is now extending this offer to "any app – WebWorks, Native, AIR, and Android. Same deadline of February 13 applies."

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There is huge buzz surrounding the release of OS 2.0 for the BlackBerry PlayBook. With the possible release date a little over two weeks away, RIM is doing everything it can to get as many Android apps as possible ready for the new OS launch. Today, the Inside BlackBerry Blog posted a new promotion for Android app developers:

More details about the promotion will be posted on the Inside BlackBerry Blog as soon as possible but for now that stands to be a pretty awesome promotion for Android app developers. We're hopeful this creates a nice wave of developers that if, for no other reason, will port their apps over to App World to get a free tablet.

This is a pretty smart idea on RIM's part. With the recent low prices of the PlayBook, odds are most people are opting to go for a higher capacity tablet (32GB and 64GB), leaving RIM with a lot of 16GB tablets lying around. Giving these away in exchange for something, like Android apps in App World, will only help the momentum of the OS 2.0 launch. Smart move RIM, smart move indeed.

UPDATE [11:58am]: It seems that our brothers from the north are also getting ready for the PlayBook OS 2.0 update on the 21st. Various Best Buy Canada and Future Shop locations have confirmed the February 21st launch date as well.

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Until dates for any type of product launch and/or software update are announced officially, they tend to usually be "target dates" instead of being set in stone. It seems this will also be the case with the PlayBook OS 2.0 release date. Representatives at multiple Best Buy locations across the U.S. and Canada are receiving word that the PlayBook OS 2.0 upgrade will be made available to the public on Tuesday, February 21st.

Originally, we had heard the date of Friday, February 17th as the possible launch date but instead it seems like this date may end up being an internal target date to get everything in place (servers ready and loaded; etc) for the launch on the 21st.

RIM obviously does not want anything to go wrong with this update as it is one of the most anticipated software updates in BlackBerry history. This is why they could be opting to go with the safe bet of launching OS 2.O on a Tuesday instead of a Friday in case anything does go wrong. Whatever the date may end up being, Research In Motion will be on time with a major software update release. Great way to start off 2012.

The BlackBerry PlayBook 3G tablet has been rumored for quite some time now, and we were beginning to wonder is it was even going to happen. A new slide taken from what appears to be an internal RIM document gives us some nice information regarding the PlayBook 3G+ model.

If you notice the OS section of the description has not been defined. However, it is probably safe to assume that it will ship with a slightly modified version of OS 2.0 to help manage the 3G connections. Interestingly HSPA+ is also deemed by some carriers as 4G, so it will be interesting to see how that fits in.

The release date for this device is uncertain as the leaked roadmap appears to show the device being release the Q1 of 2013. Others say we could see some time in the latter part of this year. As for pricing that is anyone's guess but a good estimate would be anywhere between $300 and $400.

A quick summary of the specifications are as follows:

• 7 inch LCD screen with 1024x600 WSVGA resolution
• 1.5 Ghz dual core processor
• 1GB RAM
• 32GB flash memory
• Records in full 1080p HD Video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV, HDMI output
• 3.0MP front facing camera and 5.0 back facing camera
• 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

There is not much of a difference between this one and the one that we currently have now, but it's still early yet and we may see some other changes.

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With the new year comes expectations for every company on what they will be delivering to their customers in the near future. RIM is no exception to this unwritten rule. We know, for instance, that the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS 2.0 will be releasing in a couple of weeks, that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone will be dropping in late summer/early fall, and that we'd be seeing a new PlayBook and two new Curves as well.

Today, BGR has released actual evidence, in the form of official RIM slides, to support their BlackBerry road map article in which we learn a little bit more about what's new and reaffirm what we've already learned is in store for us this year:

For the last 10 years, Zinio has become one of the most popular apps to bring magazines to consumers on the go. Adding to the wide variety of currently supported devices, the Zinio app will be available soon for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Current Zinio members will be able to access all their purchased subscriptions as soon as they sign in to their account upon launch of the app. If you don't have a Zinio account, you will be able to browse a pretty great collection of magazines in their store. Upon launch of the app, Zinio and BlackBerry will be giving a $25 credit to get you started.

Once again the popular jailbreak tool Dingleberry for the BlackBerry PlayBook has been updated, and includes some nice new features. The development team for Dingleberry have been working hard on improving the app and have added some really great features. The last release gave us a patch for Hulu and added auto detect root so that the restore process did not have to be repeated. This release now allows for a selection of Core OS and Full OS. Perhaps the biggest addition to this release is the ability to install .bar files. The installer creates a folder that you can place your .bar files and will install then this is great if you have a nice collection of .bar files and do not want to side-load them every time.

Take a look at the full change log here:

RIM has released Beta 3 of their Native SDK 2.0 for Tablet OS. A few new features have been added as well as updates to the documentation. Take a look at some of the new features and enhancements:

Tooling enhancements:

• A new easy-to-use Add Library Wizard, which is designed to simplify the process of adding library dependencies to a project
• Improved navigation and workflow in the Deployment Setup Wizard
• Enhancements to the BAR file editor to view localized manifests for each locale

API improvements:

• BPS services can now use channels as chosen by the application for multi-threaded messaging
• Scoreloop social gaming APIs

Documentation updates:

• A new “Hello Native SDK” tutorial provides a walkthrough of the OpenGL ES 1.1 Application Project template that comes with the QNX® Momentics® IDE
• A new “Displaying a dialog” recipe instructs users how to display dialogs on the screen and handle dialog events

If your a developer there are some nice additions to this update. Happy developing.

Our friend Ronen from BerryReview has just received information from sources that RIM has set a launch date for February 17th to release PlayBook OS 2.0 to the masses. There have been numerous rumors flying around as to what the actual ETA will be, but if this rings true, we will be updating out PlayBook's shortly after Valentine's Day!

If you're in the market for a data plan, and have never in your entire life had one, AT&T is changing up their prices! Just don't be alarmed if you stumble upon past deals and are painfully alarmed by the difference. As of January 22nd, AT&T's new data plans will be as follows:

In all honesty, and because my data plan grandfathers over, AT&T does have a valid point:
Next comes the reveal of tablet data plan prices, included are going to be BlackBerry PlayBooks when they're finally 4G compatible:

Current customers will have the option of keeping their current data plan, but also can decide to switch to one of the new ones. The 250 MB data plan for $14.99 will also still be up for grabs for tablet users.

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