RIM has decided to recall about a thousand of its PlayBook tablets thanks to a buggy operating system, the company has confirmed. The confirmation came after RIM had begun notifying its distribution partners about the faulty units, with the company noting that the majority of the recalled devices are still in distribution channels—not in customers' hands.

Buzz about the recall began as early as Saturday, when several sites, including Engadget, got a hold of a leaked memo to Staples. The memo said that "approximately 900 units of the Blackberry PlayBook" had been determined to be faulty, providing a list of serial numbers for store employees to check against. Only the 16GB versions of the 7-inch tablet were affected.

PlayBook fans were concerned that the recall notice to Staples might just be the beginning, but RIM later issued a statement claiming that the problems were only limited to a thousand units or so. The bug in question apparently resides within the PlayBook's OS, preventing software from being loaded upon initial set-up.

"The majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel and haven't reached customers. RIM is working to replace the affected devices," RIM said. "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."

It might seem surprising that RIM would choose to recall a thousand units just for a software glitch. Although some kind of over-the-air update would be out of the question, RIM could potentially issue a software update to users to load upon initial set-up over USB. But it's understandable why RIM would choose not to go that route—the initial customer experience is crucial, and many users may not bother trying to install updates before trying out the device first, becoming frustrated, and returning it.

RIM did not respond to our request for comment on this front, but the cost of recalling a handful of PlayBooks from the distribution channel is likely preferable to the bad press that would result from customers getting their hands on buggy units. RIM doesn't seem to think that many of these PlayBooks have made their way out into the wild yet. Have any Ars readers been affected by this bug?