RIM BlackBerry PlayBook Shipping Without Email Support

According to an internal Verizon document, the business-oriented BlackBerry Playbook will ship next month without native email support.

Instead, the tablet will get the functionally during a later update, according to a leaked document.

In a future software update for the BlackBerry PlayBook, we will also provide native e-mail, calendar, and contact apps for those customers who prefer to have these apps directly on the tablet, the memo says.

But RIM's reasons for the omission aren't intentional. According to the memo, RIM just won't have the feature ready in time for the device's launch. RIM figured it wasn't necessary to wait for it to go live in order to get PlayBook sales rolling, the memo explains.

But that's a notable omission for a company whose best-known product, the BlackBerry, is prized by business professionals who typically rely on email for communication. RIM's decision to jettison the functionality may be an indication that the company has had to sacrifice features to get the PlayBook to stores in time for its April 19th release date.

The PlayBook is not completely without email support as RIM offers two alternatives. One is via the BlackBerry Bridge feature, in which users can link their BlackBerry phones to the PlayBook, accessing their email on the Playbook's larger screen. Users can also also access their email accounts via the Playbook's web browser.