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Rumor: Playbook to run Android apps?

A rumor is flying around that RIM's BlackBerry Playbook will have the option to run Android apps.

Nicole Lee Former Editor
Nicole Lee is a senior associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also a fan of comic books, video games, and of course, shiny gadgets.
Nicole Lee
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook RIM

Boy Genius Report reported today that RIM may be considering a way for its PlayBook tablet to run Android applications, primarily to gain access to the Android marketplace and reduce the need for native app development.

According to BGR, this could be done via a Dalvik virtual machine, which is the same VM that the Android OS uses, and could allow QNX devices to run Android apps.

We tend to think it's a lot of wishful thinking, and here's why: RIM has put a lot of time and effort into its own developer program, and moving toward Android apps would undermine its own native app efforts. Getting Android apps on there would certainly boost its cachet, but we just can't see RIM playing nice with the competition like this.

Furthermore, we're not sure how well-suited Android apps would be to the QNX platform, especially as there really aren't any tablet-specific Android apps yet.

Of course, we could be wrong about this and end up with egg on our face, but we would take this rumor with a grain of salt.