In talking with one mobile developer recently, we spoke of all the platforms their app was available on, but one was missing – RIM. BlackBerry, they explained, was simply a pain to develop for.
Today, the company behind the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and new QNX-based BlackBerry smartphones confirmed that it would support Google Android apps on these devices moving forward.
RIM has been on a decline as of late, giving up market share to Google Android, which just earlier this month passed the popular mobile OS to take the number one spot.
It’s a much-repeated mantra of the mobile space that the apps make the platform and RIM just opened up the floodgates for apps on its devices. As Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski points out, “PlayBook isn’t launching with 100 apps. It’s launching with well over 200,000.”
According to the company’s press release, the PlayBook will support both Java and Android apps using “app players,” which provide an “application run-time environment.” The apps will then run inside of these app players, which is little in the way of hindrance to gain access to thousands more apps than would otherwise be available.
The move is a risky, but bold, move by a company that has been steadily losing ground. At the same time, it could be the risky, but bold, move that saves it from going the way of the dodo.
