“Research In Motion Ltd., seeking to boost the appeal of its BlackBerrys and revive slowing sales, plans to enable models expected next year to run applications built for Google Inc.’s Android operating system, three people familiar with the plan said,” Hugo Miller and Olga Kharif report for Bloomberg.
MacDailyNews Take: Oftentimes, apps of the same name have more features/run better on iOS devices than their Android versions do. Android apps are often watered-down afterthoughts of iOS apps. Why settle for inferior versions running on also-ran hardware when iPhone/iPad/iPod touch are readily available?
Miller and Kharif report, “BlackBerrys that run on RIM’s new QNX software will be Android-compatible, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort isn’t public. RIM has said it plans to introduce QNX phones in ‘early’ 2012.”
MacDailyNews Take: Now you can make your BlackBerry as insecure as an Android phone!
“While RIM has said that its QNX-powered PlayBook tablet will be equipped with technology that allows it to run Android apps, it hasn’t disclosed whether QNX phones will have the same capability. Marisa Conway, a spokeswoman for Waterloo, Ontario- based RIM, declined to comment,” Miller and Kharif report. “The Android app player in the new BlackBerrys is the same one that has been built for the PlayBook, and it is being tweaked to fit the different screen size and resolution of various BlackBerry models, one of the people said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, why run kludgey apps on a kludgey device from an obviously desperate company? Do the rapidly dwindling number of CrackBerry addicts really have a burning desire to run keystroke loggers that send their bank accounts and other personal information to Russian hackers?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple’s iOS unaffected by malware as Android exploits surge 76% – August 24, 2011
McAfee: Google’s Android number one in malware – August 23, 2011
Android malware records phone calls; iPhone users unaffected – August 2, 2011
Symantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacksSymantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacks – June 29, 2011
Malware apps spoof Android Market to infect Android phones – June 21, 2011
Google forced to pull several malware-infested apps from Android market – June 8, 2011
Starbucks exec: Android apps often ‘watered down’ – May 16, 2011
Android malware sees explosive growth; even faster than with PCs – April 27, 2011
Virus-laden apps infest Google’s ‘open’ Android platform; iPhone unaffected – March 3, 2011
Security firm warns of new Android trojan that can steal personal information; iPhone unaffected – December 30, 2010
Trojan infects Android smartphones; iPhone unaffected – August 10, 2010
Millions of Android phone users slammed by malicious data theft app – July 29, 2010
Unlike proactive Apple, reactive Google doesn’t block malware from Android app store – June 4, 2010
Malware designed to steal bank information pops up in Google’s Android app store – January 11, 2010