Android compatibility for the PlayBook

Having had only 25,000 apps in BlackBerry App World, RIM’s PlayBook will tap the 150,000 apps in the Android Market to give it a headstart, while ramping up the number of PlayBook specific apps to stand against the staggering 350,000 apps in Apple’s App Store.

RIM launches the PlayBook on April 19RIM will be opening the PlayBook to Android apps to provide customers a wider choice of apps.

Software tools for making Android apps work on the PlayBook will be available this summer, Tyler Lessard, head of RIM’s developer relations told Bloomberg in an interview.

Android is the world’s fastest-growing smartphone platform and is also gaining market share for tablet computers, based on data on global shipments from Strategy Analytics below.

Percentage of global shipments Android iPad
Oct to Dec 2010 22 % 75%
Jul to Sep 2010 2.3 % 95 %

Although developers can port Android apps for the PlayBook, Lessard states that developers should still create programs specifically for the PlayBook to make the most of its multimedia performance and ensure their apps work as well as possible.

Bloomberg reports that “Dozens” of games for the PlayBook will be released this year through Unity Technologies’s Union game development tool.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 2nd, 2011 at 12:01 am and is filed under Android, Apple, Figures, Gadgets, Google, iOS, iPad, PlayBook, RIM, Tablets, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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