We now have more details on the availability and pricing for BlackBerry’s PlayBook. Looks like it will be available at Office Depot for $499.99 and in “week 17” which means about the last week of April. The PlayBook will have 16 GB of storage, wifi and is capable of 3G speeds when connected to a Blackberry phone.

The pricing is on par with Apple’s iPad, but RIM will want to get the PlayBook out as soon as possible since Apple’s iPad 2 is coming.

The netbook is one of the only segments in the computer industry that is posting strong growth during the global economic slump. Sales of netbooks have soared posting growth rates of 160% according to some analysts.

The most popular netbook in America comes from Acer and is called the Aspire One. Gateway is owned by Acer and has so far not offered its own netbook for consumers to purchase. It seems that has changed and Gateway has now rolled out a netbook that is exclusive to Office Depot and the Home Shopping Network.