Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) Playbook Hampered by Adobe's (NASDAQ:ADBE) Flash?

Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) was forced on the defensive last week when a Kaufman analyst said their soon-to-be-released Playbook tablet has a battery life far below their already-entrenched competitors. Kaufman said Monday it's probably the consequences of using Adobe's (NASDAQ:ADBE) Flash.

RIM attempted to refute that assertion, but Kaufman's Wu maintains his stance, saying to compete with the iPad (Nasdaq:AAPL) and others, it'll have to incorporate a larger battery.

Wu said, "As seen in recent tests for the new MacBook Air, use of Flash can cut battery life in half. It should be no surprise to anyone that our checks indicate Adobe is furiously working on reducing Flash’s consumption of resources to make it a viable mobile platform vs. HTML5 that both Apple and Google are moving toward."

Research in Motion was trading at $59.22, up $1.09, or 1.88 percent, as of 1:18 PM EST. Adobe was at $31.17, up $0.39, or 1.27 percent.