PlayBook Becomes First US Goverment Certified Tablet

Research in Motion’s new PlayBook tablet has been authorised for use by US federal government agencies, the Canadian based company has announced.

The small 7-inch flash-enabled tablet has received Federal information Processing Standard certification meaning it can be used within government agencies which require certain security criteria to be met before allowing a device to be used, protecting sensitive data. RIM have said that the PlayBook is the first and currently only tablet authorised for official use in this way.

This can only be good news for RIM as many networks including AT&T and Verizon in the US and O2 in the UK have chose not to carry the Apple iPad alternative, mainly due to the fact that it currently has no direct support for e-mail or calendars without linking it to an existing BlackBerry phone. The fact that it can be used in a secure environment, just as their phones can, could lead to strong sales with organisations which already use RIM products and RIM will no doubt use existing contracts to push the PlayBook as much as it can.

The company’s latest reports boast about selling half a million of the devices to retail stores, however they don’t say how many of these have been sold to end-users.