This may not be much of a surprise but Bloomberg is reporting that the BlackBerry smartphones running the QNX software will definitely be able to utilize Android apps. That means the upcoming BlackBerry Colt may launch with a healthy amount of apps.
We already knew that the BlackBerry PlayBook with QNX would be able to run Android apps through an emulator and Simon even got it working on his tablet. The experience wasn’t amazing but this was an early build, so we have to cut RIM a bit of slack.
RIM says this move will help it get that “tonnage” of apps out there, so that it won’t have to worry about playing the apps number game with Android and iOS. For the record, I don’t like the move because I believe it shows a disturbing lack of faith in the platform and it actually discourages developers from creating amazing native QNX apps.
What I do like is that the same report said the native e-mail and calendar apps will finally be coming to the PlayBook tablet this September. Until that update comes out, the only way to get e-mail and calendar information on your RIM tablet is through a browser or by connecting a BlackBerry through Bridge. This was our biggest negative in our official review of the BlackBerry PlayBook.
So, BlackBerry fans, what do you think about QNX on phones with Android apps? I’ve been playing with the 9900 on T-Mobile for a while now and I must say that I’m intrigued by the possibilities.
[Via Bloomberg]
