Version 2.0 of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS is available for owners of the tablet as of today, Research In Motion announced. The update will finally add a native e-mail application to the tablet, among other new features, ten months after the tablet's initial release.
The BlackBerry PlayBook was derided upon its release for its lack of e-mail and calendar apps without an accompanying BlackBerry smartphone to feed it that information. The new version of the OS gives users a unified inbox that can not only handle e-mail, but also messages in Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
That social network integration extends to the Calendar and Contacts apps, which can be automatically populated with content pulled from the services above. One of the most popular apps from RIM, BlackBerry Messenger, remains absent from the company's tablet.
The PlayBook went through rounds of price cuts and deals from retailers last fall, and received a flat price cut following the release of the Kindle Fire. The base 16GB WiFi model now retails for around $200.
