BlackBerry may be considering putting Android on a new device
BlackBerry is rumored to be working on a future Android device as it shifts its focus to its BES12 cross-platform device management system.
Officially, BlackBerry remains committed to its BlackBerry 10 OS despite rumors of a future Android device. (Image Source: BlackBerry)
BlackBerry could be working on plans to release a smartphone running Android, according to unnamed sources in a Reuters report. The beleaguered smartphone manufacturer has seen its market share drop to less than 1%, a huge change in fortune from its heyday as the choice device of business executives.
Its BlackBerry 10 line of devices have so far failed to claw significant market share back from iOS or Android, and this could be BlackBerry’s way of admitting defeat, much like how Windows will now run Android and iOS apps. After all, if you can’t beat them, join them.
But this is all still speculation, and it’s not clear whether this means the end of BlackBerry 10 devices, or if the foray into Android is going to be just a one-off experiment. Officially, BlackBerry still remains committed to its BlackBerry 10 operating system.
However, CEO John Chen is banking on its new device management system, BES12, that will allow corporate and government clients to manage multiple device platforms on their internal networks. This of course includes BlackBerry, but also Android, iOS and Windows.
If BlackBerry is indeed shifting its focus toward enterprise device management systems, it could forgo its efforts to produce a competitive mobile operating system and instead channel its resources into an area where it has a far better chance of succeeding. A move to Android would then make sense, but at this point it’s impossible to be sure what BlackBerry’s plans are.
According to sources Reuters contacted, a launch of an Android-based device would help BlackBerry convince skeptics that its BES12 system could successfully manage and secure devices powered by rival operating systems.
The same sources also said that BlackBerry could debut Android on a slider phone that it showed at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. If BlackBerry does release such a device, it could even come with some features that were previously exclusive to its BlackBerry 10 OS.
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