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BB10 to run Android Apps?

So I've been midly harsh on Heins (RIM's CEO) in his public statements since the company's stock crashed last week. I praised his engagement, but knocked his messaging strategy. I felt he threw a lot of fluff out there which was not credible given how many times RIM has let down its investors and customers.

Having said that, major PR kudos to Heins for doing something that many CEO's would not do.

He agreed to answer 10 questions from Globe & Mail readers. That's the kind of thing that you only do if you are ready to be fully engaged and fully honest.

After all, if the G&M sent him the questions and he didn't respond, it would be a PR disaster. Yet Heins did respond and I've got to say, he did a really good job in his responses.

You can read the 10 questions and Heins' answers here.

What stood out to me the most in his responses was when he says...


"We have considered a range of options that included adopting someone else’s operating system, but ultimately we rejected that idea. We determined that the best way to build value for our stakeholders and do right by our users is to unite devices and software with BlackBerry 10 – building each from the ground up so they work together without a hitch. With the global market growing as fast as it is, we believe there is room and demand for an alternative to generic software. We have more than 90,000 applications up for sale on BlackBerry App World today and more than 3 billion applications have been downloaded from our store. We even have a way to move Android apps to BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry 10, so we would actually be limiting choices by adopting another operating system."


WHAT?!!!

If BB10 truly has the ability to allow users to run Android Apps on their Blackberry and Playbook then that's a game changer. Why Heins was talking about your Blackberry being able to interact with parking meters is beyond me if something as amazing as this will be a part of BB10.  Although I still remain cautious about his statement, the word 'move' sounds a bit fishy to me. What does that actually mean? That you have to be a registered Android user in order to get Android apps, which can then be 'moved' to your BB10 afterwards?

If it however means that you can visit the Android store on your BB10 and download apps, then this is a total game changer. That would instantly put RIM back in the game, provided the BB10 OS ran smoothly without crashes or bugs. 

This is the kind of stuff RIM needs to be talking about. To date no one has been talking about BB10's features other than the soft-touch keyboard (which let's be honest, is boring to hear about, especially for someone like me who hates soft-touch keyboards no matter how 'innovative' they may be).

So Kudo to Heins for taking G&M's reader questions without knowing what they would be and answering them in a forth right manner.

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