The offer is valid until Dec. 31 from authorized resellers, . Buyers also get a free accessory with each tablet.

Such offers are usually a sign that a product isn't selling well, said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates. It's probably an attempt by RIM to lower its inventory, he said, and could be a sign that a new tablet is on the horizon.

RIM may release a new tablet early next year, he speculated, along with the release of its operating-system update, PlayBook OS 2.

RIM shipped just 200,000 PlayBooks in its fiscal quarter that ended Aug. 27, down from 500,000 the quarter before that, when it started selling the product. Rival Apple sold 11.12 million iPads in its fiscal quarter ended Sept. 24.

An entry-level Playbook with 16GB of storage is priced at and , which was its original price.