Rumour: RIM cans rumoured 10in PlayBook

It's a RIM rumour overload as an anonymous tipster reveals that the BlackBerry maker has cancelled development of the never-confirmed 10-inch PlayBook tablet.

According to this source, the company has ditched the larger tablet in favour of cracking on with its first QNX-based superphone, which you'd think they'd have already been working on.

The source came up with some specs for the handset, too – a single-core 1.2GHz processor, 900+ resolution and a 4.3-inch touchscreen.

Facts like gold dust

Two rumours don't necessarily make a respectable supposition, but some of these specs do match up with what Carlo Chiarello, VP of the GSM business unit at RIM, told TechRadar back in May:

"That [QNX] experience is going to start to come in to our high tier products. I can't tell you when… But it's absolutely part and parcel of what we're working on now.

"I can tell you that it's going to come in to the higher tier value propositions first. It'll probably come into an all-touch first, more than likely."

As much as we'll concede that a 10-inch PlayBook would have been a sensible thing for RIM to consider and that focusing on its smartphones might be a better use of its time, we can't help but feel this particular set of rumours could have come from the land of mobile phone unicorns and dancing tablet nymphs.