Jonathan S. Geller, also known as Boy Genius,reported thatRIM is considering a feature that will allowBlackBerrydevices to run Android apps.
Geller has long been a BlackBerry fan boy and is a trusted source for Blackberry news. According to his story, “Research In Motionhas been trying to figure out the path it wants to take as far as how the existing Java environment will work on its upcomingQNXtablet and smartphones.”
BlackBerry has said that it’s looking into a Java virtual machine running on the PlayBook and Boy Genius suggests that RIM is considering the Dalvik virtual machine, which is the same VM that the Android OS uses, which would allow RIM’s PlayBook and other QNX devices to run applications built for the Android platform.
This makes a lot of sense to me considering how many developers I know that either hate or refuse to develop for the BlackBerry platform. Remember when BlackBerryput out a callfor Playbook app developers? Looks like no one answered. By opening up their devices to Android, they will be making a lot of BlackBerry customers very happy. But who am I to say? I’m not an app developer. I reached out to a friend and industry specialist, Ryan Charles, Head of Mobile for Zagat for his opinion.
From my perspective I believe this is most meaningful for the tablet industry in the short term. This opens up the possibility that developers could create the first Android and BlackBerry Playbook tablet apps simultaneously, without a significant amount of additional work. The size of the market for their single app is now equivalent to two new platforms instead of one. -Ryan Charles
RIM can go one of two ways here it seems. Either RIM uses the open source Dalvik virtual machine, thus not involving Google OR RIM and Google do the tango, certifying the BlackBerry devices as an Android platform product.
Story byCourtney Boyd Myers
Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups gr(show all)Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder ofaudience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups grow internationally.
Previously, she was the Features Editor and East Coast Editor of TNW covering New York City startups and digital innovation. She loves magnets + reading on a Kindle.
You can follow her onFacebook,Twitter @CBMandGoogle +.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
