Android apps could run slow on BlackBerry app emulator

Yesterday we got news that RIM’s plan to get Android Apps working on thier QNX devices was underway in full swing and of course the community was quite happy. It meant the best of two smartphone worlds. However, according to Dan Frommer, there might be a twist in the tale. RIM’s plan to run Android apps through an Android “app player” may face performance issues as they run through an emulator. According to Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of BlackBerry, “You’re just not going to get things like gaming and multimedia, you’re not going to get the speed going through a VM interface”. Thus it is expected that heavy Android games and apps will work poorly or might not work at all.

RIM’s dream to bring Android apps to BlackBerry  (image credit pocketberry.com)

Futhermore, the developers are required to recompile their apps and submit them to RIM for approval. As the PlayBook sales don’t seem to be as good as RIM probably expected, there is very little possibility that developers would show their interest towards this. To complicate things further, RIM only plans to allow those apps which run on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or under to be avilable for the PlayBook. The PlayBook owners might not be happy with this, as apps may not work in full screen mode for them and also that they would be deprived from highly optimised Honeycomb apps. Moreover, based on the official video demonstration, PlayBook’s elegant multitasking will not support opening of multiple Android apps.

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