Blackberry allow Android apps to work on their mobile devices:
Research in motion the manufacturers of Blackberry’s are planning to allow Android applications to work on their new QNX based smartphone range in order to prop up flagging sales due to the popularity of other manufacturers mobile devices who are adopting the Google owned Android operating system.
QNX allows Android applications to run natively on RIM devices:
Future Blackberry smartphones released using RIM’s new operating system termed QNX which was purchased in 2010 from Harman International and already features on it’s Playbook range, will be able to run Android applications it has been confirmed by three people who wish to remain strangely anonymous.
The news was broken by Bloomberg who have been talking to the RIM team so this does seem to have some standing as RIM released an article back in March to confirm that the Playbook would be Android compatible when it came to applications, and with this tablet being based on their QNX O/S it seems a logical step all things considered that their new smartphone range will also feature this quite appealing aspect.
The actual Andriod app player for the Playbook has not yet been seen but is said to be getting shipped some time soon.
Playbook has been suffering massively from lack of applications:
With the native QNX SDK for developers only being released this week the RIM marketplace for apps on its Playbook range is currently woeful, now though developers are able to utilise the POSIX-compatible C++ platform with optimised graphics acceleration as another option to the Adobe Flash and Air environment.
What will the Blackberry Android smartphone app player look like?
Essentially it will be the same as the anticipated PlayBook app player, with adjustments for screen resolutions and size. The introduction of more applications to the RIM range is key, as their marketplace termed “App World” currently only offers a small 35,000 apps, this is compared to over 250,000 in Android and some 750,000+ in Apples app store.
Looters and rioters won’t keep RIM alive:
Joking aside, RIM’s mobile device market share has been on freefall for quite some time, Gartner state that Blackbery’s share of the global market now accounts for 11.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, this equates to a drop of a huge 7 percent, and now puts them considerably behind Apple devices and way behind Android based devices.
Management structure and job loses indicate more troubles at RIM:
With the company having an unconventional two CEO’s and scheduling a 2,000 cut in their workforce with a further 12 percent fall in revenue in its first quarter to £3 billion, the Canadian company is firmly in troubled waters right now, the release of a new line of phones the Bold, Torch, Touch and Curve with Blackberry’s updated O/S “Blackberry 7” may or may not see them through until the arrival of their “superphones” in 2012.
It seems like yet another technology company struggling with the fast paced changes that are taking place in the mobile tech industry, no company is too big to not be under constant threat it seems.
Anthony Munns