Research in Motion Ltd. will release the updated Playbook operating system in February that would include a new native calendar and contact applications, as well as better integration for E-mail, LinkedIn and Twitter. RIM is hoping the new update will lure developers and consumers to support its Playbook OS 2.0 but this update could be too late to reverse the Playbook's fortune.

RIM unveiled the new version of the Playbook OS at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas but the news failed to make any impact as analysts and spectators at CES who were hoping for more from the beleaguered BlackBerry maker. The disappointment from the Playbook 2.0 news stems from the fact that there isn't anything of importance in the announcement. The new version of the OS does integrate basic features such as messaging and a calendar but those features already existed in the Playbook although users had to own a Blackberry phone to access them. An update like this should have happened earlier not a year after RIM unveiled the Playbook and interest in the tablet is at an all time low.

RIM unveiled the Playbook at last year's CES with the intention of challenging Apple in the tablet market. Unfortunately the tablet had mediocre sales and the various models of the Playbook are now on sale for $300 in BlackBerry's online store. The new update, which also allows users to access Google's Android Market and a video store catalog from RIM's partners, doesn't let the Playbook work with its popular BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging system making the upgrade less attractive to consumers.

2011 was not a good year for Research in Motion. The company suffered from network blackouts, falling sales and the company's stock dipped to its lowest level in several years. The company's much anticipated BlackBerry 10 smartphones are on hold until the second half of the year.

Some analysts present at CES were not impressed with the new upgrade.

"While we were impressed with the improvements BlackBerry 2.0 offers, we believe it still lags competing tablet offerings. With competing OEMs continuing to introduce high-end smartphone products on more established software ecosystems and low-cost Android smartphones pressuring RIM's international margins, we believe sales and earnings will remain under pressure until BlackBerry 10 smartphones launch in late C2012," Canaccord Genuity technology analyst Michael Walker said in a Forbes report.

"While we believe RIM management is focused on improved product execution during 2012, we believe new BB 10 smartphones will launch into an even more competitive smartphone market, as we anticipate innovative new Android LTE smartphones from multiple OEMs, a significant increase in Windows smartphone offerings from Nokia and other OEMs, and a refreshed LTE iPhone 5 by the time BB 10 smartphones launch."

Jennifer Fritzsche, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co. told Bloomberg that the update is a little too late for RIM to be a serious contender in the tablet market. The Playbook would only appeal to corporate Blackberry customers.

"I would call this a working version of what should've come last year - things that should've been there out of the box," she said.