RIM cans 16GB PlayBook

Troubled Canadian vendor insists it will still offer higher capacity versions of its tablet

BlackBerry maker RIM has confirmed to a Canadian news site that it is to can the 16GB PlayBook.

According to an article on the National Post, the battling vendor has said it will focus instead on the higher capacity models.

In an emailed statement to the newspaper, the company said that while the 16 GB model will be available until its distributors and retailers run out of inventory, it will no longer be making new ones.

“There is more value for our customers in the higher capacity models (32 GB, 64 GB), and as such we have decided to focus our efforts here,” the company said.

The gloomy news is the latest in a long line of setbacks suffered by RIM as it tries to claw its way back to profitability.

Last December the firm was forced to swallow a $485m PlayBook charge after sales of the device did not take off as planned.

Earlier this year the vendor saw a boardroom shuffle as co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie resigned and Thorsten Heins was taken on as president and CEO.

And last month its woes continued as news emerged that it was set to slash up to 2,000 jobs globally and also that it was rumoured to have an inventory stockpile of more than $1bn.