Android Thoughts: The RIM Playbook Will Run Android Apps

"After some speculation, RIM has formally announced that their tablet, the Blackberry Playbook, will run Android apps. The inclusion of support for Android apps is huge because it means RIM’s new tablet will ship with the ability to run hundreds of thousands of apps."

Now if you follow the "read" link for all the info you'll see that what it actually will do is run RIM approved apps within an Android "app player" of some kind. This also means you will not have direct access to the Android Market. Android developers that want their app to be available for the Playbook will need to do some work to repackage their app, submit it to the BlackBerry App World, and wait for approval. I think it's smart for RIM to do this but only time will tell if developers will do the work needed to make their app available for the Playbook. I think a lot of eyes will be on the Playbook as well as the HP Touchpad (running WebOS) as so many people have been disappointed by current Android offerings. Also, I know I'm not the only one who thinks iOS is terrible on a phone and even worse on a tablet. The Playbook has some great hardware with 1GB of RAM, dual core processor, 3MP front camera, and 5MP rear camera. It does have a 7" screen which some people may think it too small, for me I think the 10" would be too big. The question is will it work well and will people buy it? What do you think?