Anybody who paid full whack for RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook when it launched must be feeling pretty glum right now: as if dropping the price by more than £100 in the run-up to Christmas wasn’t enough, the PlayBook’s price has dropped even further

What’s small, shiny and costs half a billion dollars? The BlackBerry PlayBook, whose manufacturer RIM is discounting like crazy to avoid enormous mountains of unsold tablets. RIM has announced a $485 million charge before tax to reflect the cost of discounting the tablets, which it simply can’t sell at full price.