For a while, I think all of us wondered whether the much hyped BlackBerry PlayBook was a real device or not.
No one had actually seen a physical device, and no price or release date was announced. Then, we finally heard that it’s going to be priced similarly to the iPad at $499, and should be released on April 19.
One of the more interesting announcements that came along with this is that the PlayBook will also support Android apps. At first glance, this sounds like an enticing feature, and for consumers it probably is. But what about from the developer’s perspective?
Apparently said Android apps will need to run in a special “app player” on the device, and will only support Android 2.3, not 3.0 which is designed for tablets. It seems this may cause some graphics issues when an app designed for smaller screens is stretched to the PlayBook’s screen size.
Another downside to this situation, the Android Market won’t be available on the PlayBook, instead, developers will have to submit their Android apps to the BlackBerry App World in order to have them available for the PlayBook.
While I think the possibility of running Android apps on the PlayBook may help its chances, I’m not sure it’s enough to save it from the competition of the iPad and the plethora of choices in Android tablets. I imagine only time will tell. What do you think?
Are you considering purchasing a PlayBook when they become available?
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