Earlier this month RBC Capital Markets made an announcement that caused some stir.  It said, in short, that RIM is “possibly planning” to stop production of their non-cellular tablet. Incidentally, it’s their only tablet.  Analysts complained that the PlayBook fell short when the tablet device didn’t come equipped with native email, calendar and arguably their best app yet – their Blackberry Messenger.

When you look at what RIM has been doing over the past quarter though, it all seems suspect. In fact, RIM countered quite quickly that the news was “pure fiction”.  RIM has launched the PlayBook in 16 countries and plans on more rollouts to come in the weeks ahead.  It continues to make upgrades to their OS and I’m sure when a cellular PlayBook is released, it will address any shortcomings that analysts had.

By releasing their tethering technology, the BlackBerry Bridge, users can connect their phone to their PlayBook, and despite what analysts say, this was a bright move by RIM.  It allowed RIM to cautiously consider their entry into 3G waters while it observed why other players’ inventory was sitting idle.  It turns out that many consumers are not rushing out to acquire yet another data plan for their tablets and instead opting for the Wi-Fi enabled versions.

Despite its name, I’m still an advocate that BlackBerry’s PlayBook is for those that need to get work done.  RBC’s recent comments were probably to create some buzz and boost a suffering stock.  And when you read between the lines, there’s probably a story in there somewhere – I’m expecting more good news from RIM on the next PlayBook.