A new report by Reuters claims that BlackBerry may adopt Android OS for its upcoming smartphone. The report cites four sources who corraborate the same that BlackBerry will use Android to attract users since BlackBerry 10 failed to gain consumer traction.
The device that could run on Android OS will be BlackBerry’s slider phone that will bring the goodness of a touchscreen display and a physical keyboard.
The shift to Android is also due to focus on BlackBerry’s software services that also work cross-platform on Android and iOS.
BlackBerry is also working together with Samsung for its KNOX service that is a part of Galaxy devices.
Our last interaction with BlackBerry India during the Leap launch also emphasised the software side more than the hardware side.
A slider phone on Android will be an interesting one, if true, because current set of Android manufacturers have shunned the form factor for an all-touch phone.
BlackBerry’s tryst with Android is not new as current set of BlackBerry 10 models can run Android apps and even comes pre-loaded with Amazon Appstore.