Blackberry sounds ready to embrace an Android future

BlackBerry Priv
Is BlackBerry committing to Android?

BlackBerry's slide from leader of the smartphone pack to near obscurity has not been easy to watch, and it sounds like the company has decided that embracing Android is the way to get its phone business back on track - although officially BlackBerry says BB10 is still part of its plans.

The launch of the BlackBerry Priv was a big clue: a flagship handset running the latest version of Google's mobile operating system rather than the BlackBerry's own BB10 software.

"The Priv device is essentially our transition to Android ecosystem," BlackBerry director Damian Tay told The Economic Times. "As we secure Android, over a period of time, we would not have two platforms, and may have only Android as a [smartphone] platform.

The future is Android

Tay said that Android and BB10 would co-exist for the time being but it sounds like the writing's on the wall. In fact, rumours that the company would switch OSes have been swirling since last summer.

"The future is really Android," added Tay. "We went for Android essentially for its app ecosystem. In addition, all the enterprise solutions that we have been doing have been cross-platform for a long time now. So it's a natural progression towards Android."

In an email to TechRadar, a BlackBerry representative said the firm "remains committed to the BlackBerry 10 platform", pointing us to this blog post that says multiple updates to BB10 are on the way in 2016 - so no need to worry if you're rocking a Passport, Classic or other BlackBerry phone.

Via Softpedia

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.