TORONTO - Research In Motion is recalling about 1,000 of its PlayBook tablet devices that were shipped with a faulty operating system.
The company, which is best known for its BlackBerry smartphones, says the devices involved in the recall had a problem that may prevent users from performing the initial setup of the device.
RIM says the majority of the affected devices were still at retailers and haven't reached customers.
The recall only affected the 16-gigabyte version of the PlayBook.
"In the small number of cases where a customer received a PlayBook that is unable to properly load software upon initial set-up, they can contact RIM for assistance," the company said in a statement.
RIM has faced criticism in recent months for being too slow to react to the young, yet highly competitive, tablet market where Apple Inc. has a stronghold with its iPad device.
The PlayBook debuted to little fanfare and some negative reviews earlier this month, while Apple's iPad 2 was greeted with huge demand from the consumer market.
RIM says PlayBook shipments in the quarter continue to be in line with its expectations, but the company hasn't said how many units it expects to ship in the quarter ending May 28.
Shares in the company were up three cents to $41.95 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
