US retailers have cut the price of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to around US$200 as the device maker aims to clear stock in the run up to Christmas, reports the Wall Street Journal. The move comes after Canadian retailers cut prices for the device last week.

During the most recent quarter, RIM sold 200,000 PlayBooks compared to 500,000 in the first three months following its April 2011 launch. Apple sold 11 million iPads during its most recent quarter. One of the PlayBook’s major areas of weakness cited by reviewers is its inability to run an email application without being tethered to a BlackBerry smartphone. RIM has said it intends to solve this issue with a software update early next year.

A RIM spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal that the official price of the device hasn’t changed but that a range of promotions – including rebates and gift cards – will run during the holiday period. RIM’s margins fell in the most recent quarter and the discounting of the tablet device will serve to put more pressure in this area as analysts estimate the device – which was initially priced at US$500 – will now be sold at a loss.

HP slashed the price of its webOS-based TouchPad tablet in August following disappointing sales. The price drop – US$499 to US$99 for the cheapest version – created a surge in demand for the device that led HP to announce a final production run of the device.

RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie recently said RIM is “100 percent” committed to the PlayBook as it transitions its device portfolio to the next-generation BBX platform, which combines features of the QNX OS used on the PlayBook with those of the BlackBerry 7 platform.