RIM's PlayBook May Be Able To Run Android Apps

Android apps may run on Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet. Modifying the PlayBook's BlackBerry Tablet OS to run Android would make more than 130,000 apps available. With RIM's PlayBook already appealing to the enterprise market with BlackBerry security, analysts think adding Android apps could boost PlayBook sales as much as 50 percent.

If you can't beat 'em, use their apps. That seems to be the strategy behind reports that Research in Motion is developing software so its new PlayBook tablet can run Android applications.
According to a report Friday from the Bloomberg News Service, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company intends to integrate the software with PlayBook's operating system. Bloomberg cited "three people familiar with the matter." RIM declined to comment.
130,000 Android Apps
If RIM does enable the PlayBook to run Android apps, it could have a major impact on the device's appeal. There are currently more than 130,000 Android apps, while RIM's App World has about 20,000.
A major library of applications, plus the PlayBook's tie-in with the security and messaging of the BlackBerry smartphone, could be a winning combination, especially for the enterprise market. Some analysts have suggested that this move could increase PlayBook sales as much as 50 percent, resulting in sales up to four million in 2011.
RIM reportedly looked at third-party software that will run Android, including Google's Java-based Dalvik, but decided to develop it internally. The Android-enabling software is expected to be ready in the second half of this year. The PlayBook will go on sale in the first quarter in the U.S., followed by a release abroad.
The PlayBook runs the BlackBerry Tablet OS, a new custom operating system based on QNX software, which RIM acquired when it bought Harman International Industries last spring. It currently supports apps written in HTML5, Adobe AIR and Flash, Java and apps written specifically for the platform.
'A Game Changer'
Android has captured second place among tablet platforms, behind Apple's dominant iPad, with 22 percent of global shipments through the end of last year, according to industry research firm Strategy Analytics.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester, said adding the ability for the PlayBook to run Android apps could be "a game changer." She said that, currently, the PlayBook is "a great product, but it has limited appeal to both developers and consumers." Making it able to run Android apps, she said, would "change the developer appeal completely."
Michael Gartenberg, research director at the Gartner Group, questioned whether customers who want a device that runs Android applications "wouldn't simply buy an Android device."
He added that "running applications on a platform that wasn't originally intended to run them is often not a great idea" in terms of performance and compatibility.
The PlayBook, with a seven-inch display, was unveiled by RIM last fall. A key question is the appeal of the requirement for the PlayBook to use a BlackBerry smartphone for network connectivity.
More than a few observers have noted that this required coupling isn't very inviting to much of the consumer market. But it could be a welcome requirement for IT managers, allowing better management of a fleet of tablets.