RIM Playbook is on pre-order in North America

RESEARCH IN MOTION'S Blackberry PlayBook can now be pre-ordered in the US and Canada for late April deliveries as the original timetable of availability in early 2011 slips away.

Announced in September last year and now on Best Buy websites in the US and Canada, the entry level $499 version of the crackberry tablet can can be ordered by enthusiastic fans to get the 7-inch device with 16GB of internal storage and WiFi, or the 32GB model for $599, or the 64GB version for $699.

Bar the internal memory capacity versions, all these RIM Playbook devices come with a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, an HD 1080p video output and the Blackberry Tablet OS.

Canadian and American buyers can hope to get their Playbooks between 19 and 26 April. Especially if they pay an additional $29.99 that ensures express delivery for 19 April.

There is no word as yet about when RIM will ship the Blackberry Playbook to the UK specifically, but the worldwide launch will be some time within the next three months.

Following that will be a 4G network version, which obviously is not for the UK because Blighty is nowhere near getting a 4G network.

See The INQUIRER video demos of the Playbook here and again here. µ