BlackBerry betting on Android
When it comes to tablets, it’s all about the apps, services and content. We know this already. Apple gets it. Amazon gets it.
And, increasingly, others are getting it too.
Research in Motion knows its BlackBerry PlayBook isn’t all that useful with a limited app catalogue. It’s a great device, make no mistake (the Kindle Fire is the same hardware!) But BlackBerry needs apps and services, and lots of them.
It announced support for Android apps when it launched the PlayBook, but details were sketchy. Was it going to offer an emulator? Would it allow access to any app in the Android Market?
At BlackBerry’s 2011 DevCon keynote Tuesday, Alex Saunders the vice president of developer relations and ecosystem detailed how this support would work. Simply put, BlackBerry has created a simple set of tools that allows developers to “convert” their Android apps to a format for PlayBook.
The best part about all of this is that consumers won’t know the difference. An app is an app is an app. There won’t be any distinction between different types of apps in BlackBerry App World.
There are a number of ways developers can convert their apps for PlayBook; the simplest is an online tool where you upload the source file and click to generate a file for submission to BlackBerry App World. (It’s also dumped the cumbersome registration process on its developer portal – now you only register after submitting your app.)
This support means the app catalogue for the PlayBook will grow exponentially.
But what about e-mail and BBM on the PlayBook?
Larry McDonough, manager for platform product management at Research In Motion, explains that native (on board) e-mail together with the support for Android applications will come as part of PlayBook OS 2.0. The developer version of this software was released at DevCon. Its still unknown when this will be publicly released to consumers, although it would be hard to imagine RIM would miss out on festive season sales.
Says McDonough, “We really understand well what’s holding back consumer excitement”.
For now, though, PlayBook owners are stuck with the BlackBerry Bridge which creates a secure, tethered Bluetooth connection to their phones. It’s been an embarrassing situation for BlackBerry, given its automatic association with e-mail.
Looking further ahead, BlackBerry’s new BBX operating system, announced by co-CEO Mike Lazaridis Tuesday brings a single operating system to both the PlayBook and future BlackBerry smartphones.
As part of its big focus on apps, BlackBerry is getting serious about games. Anders Jeppsson, RIM’s head of gaming, showcased a number of games compiled for the PlayBook and really talked up this emphasis on gaming. Its not surprising that gameplay on the PlayBook is console-standard (what you’d expect from a PlayStation!) – the guts of the tablet are seriously powerful.
But BlackBerry has got to build up the size of that catalogue by convincing game studios to compile their games for the platform.
Supporting Android apps (including games) without making a decision to use the Android operating system honestly offers the best of both worlds (despite heavy amounts of scepticism). Smart move.
The only way for any device maker to properly use Android on a tablet is to skin it and create a custom version of the software, like Amazon has done on the Kindle Fire.
Without doing this, you’re stuck with whatever Google wants to do with the operating system (and whenever it does it). Don’t forget the fact that Google now owns Motorola (Mobility) and will surely lean towards innovating on its own tablet devices first.
Right now there are many, many more questions than answers when it comes to Android, especially on tablets.
*Hilton Tarrant travelled to BlackBerry DevCon 2011 in San Francisco as a guest of Research in Motion.
Source: Moneyweb
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