[Blackberry_Boss]

Based on some tweets from lucas from N4BB and james from BerryFlow, their insiders might have let them in on a secret. BlackBerry might be switching most of its OS to android. Somehow keeping BBM, the hub and a few other features native. If you think about it they did away with the games app, music and video, added the amazon app store and basically told devs to make android apps. Moving most of our native apps that make BlackBerry 10 special to other OS's. I get the need to be everywhere since nobody wants to be here but geez but the the hub thoooo?


Posted By My BeastBerry

[Bla1ze]

Haha! Those rumors have been running rampant forever now as noted. The latest news only helped bubble them to the top again. Let's see... Samsung, Google, BlackBerry bringing Hub etc to other devices. QNX's Hypervisor. It all leads to rumors. Queue the Google Play talk alllll over again.

[howarmat]

they will make all android devices with a bb10 runtime

[Ment]

Maybe in 2-3 years. Not before BB decides what its going to do with the handset business long term; how long before it can reach 10M per year etc. Personally I think BB will run Android in a VM using the Hypervisor capability in QNX before it ever comes to switching to Android.

[Bla1ze]

they will make all android devices with a bb10 runtime

You laugh but that makes a lot of sense heh.

[igor10000]

*barf sounds*

Posted via CB10

[Gatmyer]

Duel boot may be?

Boot android
Or
Boot bb10

Posted via CB10

[rcab]

Even if they made an Android phone you probably could not get any American carriers to quickly make it available in their stores. lol
Rumors sometimes are good to keep the BlackBerry name active among the news outlets.

[Andreas Uberman Z]

The issue with that strategy is that it really depends if Google will allow that. I think most of us can agree that the general consumer is not going to be satisfied with an Android experience that relies on the Amazon App store or side loading. Google has done a great job making their services essential to the Android platform and it seems like they are going out of their way to create a unified Android experience.

[birdman_38]

I read about this in another thread as well. A former employee with friends who work there leaked there is a prototype Android Passport in BlackBerry's lab. There could be some actual truth to this rumor.

[Ment]

I read about this in another thread as well. A former employee with friends who work there leaked there is a prototype Android Passport in BlackBerry's lab. There could be some actual truth to this rumor.

Wouldn't doubt there are Android BB devices in their labs. Lots of concepts and research never make the light of day. Like Nokia nixed a full-touch phone they were working on but never got the production green light, then came the Iphone. The Passport concept was bouncing around for years at BB before it finally produced as well.

[AluminiumRims]

So all that investments in BB10 and now they will throw it all away? Competing in Android space is extremely hard and the profits aren't that great. You need something that is different and might appeal a smaller customer base. BB10 is just that, the differentiation that makes Blackberry unique from other Android phones. If Blackberry goes Android and ditch BB10, then I'm not their customer anymore. It's because of BB10 I buy their phones. If they lose those customers, then I think they are gone.

Vertical products are more profitable today. Good examples are Doro (simple phones, phones for people with impairments) and Bullitt Mobile Ltd (rugged Catepillar branded phones). Both of these companies make profit and they make profit because they have a special group of customers while their organization fits their turnover. Blackberry BB10 and their corporate solutions are vertical profit makers of Blackberry that need to secure before they venture off with Android or other endeavors.

Blackberry can make Android phones as well bit I think they will bite their profits rather than feed it because there is simply too much competition there.

[Dave79]

Duel boot may be?

Boot android
Or
Boot bb10

Posted via CB10

Awful solution, just because I need to use that one android app that doesnt work on BB10 I should reboot my device waiting like 5 mins in the process, use the app a few minutes and then reboot again to go back to bb10? Who's got time to do that?!?

[birdman_38]

Blackberry can make Android phones as well bit I think they will bite their profits rather than feed it because there is simply too much competition there.

True, but on the other hand they'd be catering to an audience that holds over 80% of the market rather than 1%.

[Andreas Uberman Z]

I don't think switching to Android, or some hybrid version of it would be a wasted investment. I think a great deal of BB's current multi platform initiatives are based on software and technology that came about from BB10 development (the HUB, Blend etc).

Nobody is suggesting BB10 is not an amazing OS, but the complete lack of native app support has lead it to become a deterrent to hardware sales if anything. The vast majority of smart phone buyers want to buy a phone that will allow them to easily access their favourite applications from the get go. Even Windows, who has invested billions in attracting both users and developers to their mobile platform has been compete because of the lack of a substantive catalogue of apps. Unique hardware or not, software is key to mainstream success.

I think Blackberry's unique hardware, coupled with their productive (soon to be ported) suite of applications and their competitive advantage in relation to security would allow them to produce a really unique and competitive Android device. One that would finally give the average Joe a chance to give them a second chance.

[Bla1ze]

When you think about....

BlackBerry could keep the core of the device BlackBerry and simply just run a VERY improved Android version as well. The Android Runtime is and always has been half baked but QNX has made progress in this area with the Hypervisor, granted for their own uses and verticals, but there's no reason they couldn't transfer it to BlackBerry as well.

This scenario has been talked about so much in the past and many folks have stated the reasons as to why it would never work but that was before QNX announced their new solution. As soon as the Hypervisor was announced, this is what instantly came to people's minds and now with everything else that has been happening, it's more plausible than ever. It doesn't mean giving up BlackBerry 10 because BlackBerry 10 could still be the core but as noted, a vastly improved runtime for lack of better word could work.

The flip side of that? Instead of running Android in this container, BlackBerry could essentially run BlackBerry 10 in this container. Therefore, keeping everything about BlackBerry 10 nice and secure but the core could take advantage of everything Android, they could even make it still look like BlackBerry 10 because of the Android flexibility in the 'skinning' area.

Take your pick..... either or could potentially work.

[Rello]

Chen has been saying that he was making software that would make it so that you don't need 2 devices. I think this could be it....and between the QNX Hypervisor announcement I think it's definitely possible that these devices will run Android at the same time

A dude in another thread was saying the slider would come with this software. I guess we'll see

Posted via CB10

[CherokeeMarty]

How about this scenario? Samsung has making a lot of noise (and a few feints such as Tizen) about jumping off the Android bandwagon, and getting out from under the Google thumb. That would allow Samsung to capture a lot of the profits going to Google. And, Samsung has had some serious collaborations with Blackberry in the recent past. How about the BB 10 OS crossed with the Android runtime? This would very much broaden Blackberry's reach while giving Samsung a viable alternative to Google's Android. Besides, BB 10 already runs Android apps.

[Dave79]

When you think about....

BlackBerry could keep the core of the device BlackBerry and simply just run a VERY improved Android version as well. The Android Runtime is and always has been half baked but QNX has made progress in this area with the Hypervisor, granted for their own uses and verticals, but there's no reason they couldn't transfer it to BlackBerry as well.

This scenario has been talked about so much in the past and many folks have stated the reasons as to why it would never work but that was before QNX announced their new solution. As soon as the Hypervisor was announced, this is what instantly came to people's minds and now with everything else that has been happening, it's more plausible than ever.

Would Google allow it though?

[birdman_38]

How about this scenario? Samsung has making a lot of noise (and a few feints such as Tizen) about jumping off the Android bandwagon, and getting out from under the Google thumb. That would allow Samsung to capture a lot of the profits going to Google. And, Samsung has had some serious collaborations with Blackberry in the recent past.

Samsung is not going to abandon the operating system that will help make the Galaxy S6 their projected best selling device of all time. However they are still interested in growing Tizen and its ecosystem. With its existing hardware infrastructure and worldwide carrier support, BlackBerry would be the perfect catalyst to give Tizen a real chance of expansion in the market.

[Bla1ze]

Would Google allow it though?

Depends on how well it's done. If it can meet their spec, they don't have much choice.

[playpen007]

I don't think so. BlackBerry goes Android, wait until pig can fly. Why would BlackBerry goes Android it open source? Security, Security... Android is the one that need BlackBerry for security and Work and Personal feature.

[birdman_38]

I don't think so. BlackBerry goes Android, wait until pig can fly. Why would BlackBerry goes Android it open source? Security, Security... Android is the one that need BlackBerry for security and Work and Personal feature.

Which is why Google has enlisted the help of BES 12. Why can't BlackBerry secure their own Android devices with BES 12? Or better yet, BES and Knox in collaboration with Samsung.

[mvpcrossxover]

[Bla1ze]

I don't think so. BlackBerry goes Android, wait until pig can fly. Why would BlackBerry goes Android it open source? Security, Security... Android is the one that need BlackBerry for security and Work and Personal feature.

You're ignoring containerized solutions entirely. Something BlackBerry and their security relies on and have been aggressively been improving.