BlackBerry respond to PlayBook Android app player criticism

Yesterday, we reported that the BlackBerry PlayBook’s Android app player, Runtime, is not shaping up to be very compatible with a large number of apps for Google’s tablet OS. RIM engineers at the Droidcon conference in Romania had stated any apps employing Google Maps, in-app billing services, Android’s text-to-speech engine or the cloud-to-device messaging system would not work with a PlayBook.

Today, we received a politely worded riposte from RIM on the matter claiming the “majority of Android apps will be able to run fully on the BlackBerry PlayBook”. The version of Runtime previewed at Droidcon is also stated to be a “pre-release version” and therefore changes will be made before the program is released to the public.

The statement in full reads as follows:

“The BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps and associated tools are designed to help developers quickly and easily bring their Android Java applications to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The current Android Player is a pre-release version and RIM is planning to add support for more APIs in future releases. It is important to note that the majority of Android apps will be able to run fully on the BlackBerry PlayBook and without any modification to the app’s source code.

“RIM invites developers to come to BlackBerry DevCon next month in San Francisco where they can interact with BlackBerry experts on a wide spectrum of topics, including the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps.”

With a whole raft of contrasting stories coming through to Life Of Android, it seems RIM haven’t got their PR story straight on this one. Letting developers talk straight to the press can sometimes be a messy business, so we’ll be waiting on Runtime’s eventual release to see what the truth of this matter is.