BlackBerry PlayBook To Run Android 2.3 Apps

Photo of author

Matt Smollinger

The PlayBook will launch with capabilities to run native apps, Android 2.3 apps, and Adobe Air apps.

RIM has confirmed in an email to Mashable, Berryreview, and other large tech blogs that their upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will in fact run Android 2.3 apps, along with native apps for their new SDK, and Adobe Air apps. This is a big move for RIM that has left many scratching their heads.

The answer lies in the fact that RIM isn’t ready with their new SDK. In fact, it won’t even be in open beta until June, which means that there will be a period where the PlayBook wouldn’t have any applications to run on it. It will be interesting to see the performance issues (if any) as RIM will probably be utilizing a virtual environment to simulate Android, or at the very least a conversion layer.

A caveat is that Android developers will have to develop for 2.3 (Gingerbread). Many developers looking at making tablet-geared apps are targeting Android 3.0, which could prove troublesome to backport apps to 2.3. In addition the apps will need to be repacked and code-signed for submission to BlackBerry App World. This process has not been elaborated on in detail, but hopefully RIM has streamlined the process for developers.

Overall this is an interesting move by RIM. The support of Adobe Air is interesting, but has not been explained yet so the verdict is still out. Hopefully the performance is adequate enough to not sour users on the experience until RIM’s new SDK is launched. June is looking to be a big month for mobile.

Source: Mashable.com.

Related posts

A Day In The Cloud – Connecting The iPad To The Cloud

A littleWebDAV. A little Dropbox. And, bam! Your iPad is connected to the cloud.

Barnes and Noble Now Accepting Nook Color App Store Submissions

Barnes and Noble has started accepting application submissions for its new App Store for the Nook Color

Confessions Of A Nook Color Rooter – Cyanogenmod’s Tablet Nirvana

Is Cyanogenmod's version 7 the best Nook Color mod out there? Has the Nook finally reached Tablet nirvana? Read on, true believers, as we take a deeper look into ROM that has the Android community so excited.