New BlackBerry Tablets? Nope, Just An April Fool's Hoax

According to various new reports Monday morning, BlackBerry was planning to release several new tablets in the near future.

There was just one problem: the reports were based on an April Fool's joke.

Several tech news outlets picked up on a supposedly leaked BlackBerry road map slide posted on Twitter by @BB10Leaks. The road map appeared to show a full-size BlackBerry 10-based tablet scheduled for a third-quarter release, as well as two smaller tablet models or "phablets" -- one with just a touchscreen and one with a physical QWERTY keyboard -- coming later this year and early next year, respectively.

[Related: BlackBerry 10 App Numbers Growing, Android Ports Falling ]

But, the BB10Leaks Twitter account later posted a picture of similar BlackBerry road map slide that simply said "Happy April Fools."

BlackBerry released its first tablet in 2011, but the BlackBerry PlayBook struggled to make an impact. The smartphone maker discontinued the 16-GB PlayBook model last summer, and according to BlackBerry's fourth-quarter earnings, BlackBerry shipped just 370,000 Playbooks during the period.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said the company will release more BlackBerry 10 devices this year beyond the recently released Z10 touchscreen smartphone and the forthcoming Q10 keyboard-based smartphone, but the company hasn't specified whether or not its product road map will include new tablets.

PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2013