One of the big smartphone launches of 2015 came from a company who are not traditionally associated with Android. This was BlackBerry. However, their entrance to the Android operating system came with the launch of the BlackBerry PRIV. A smartphone which quickly proved to be a highly interesting one, with both consumers and the tech industry watching closer. So far, the launch of the PRIV seems to be a successful one, with BlackBerry reporting good sales for the last quarter and with interest still remaining high in 2016. This is somewhat to be expected as the PRIV does look to offer a more secure Android experience, which is an experience many Android device owners are increasingly looking for.
However, the launch of an Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone has led to much speculation about the future of BlackBerry and Android and more specifically, the future of their own platform, BlackBerry 10 (BB10). A report which came out earlier this week seemed to imply that BlackBerry could be looking to lessen support for their own platform and focus primarily on Android going forward. This came from comments made during the launch of the PRIV in India. However, this seems not to be the case. Following that report, BlackBerry has reached out and not only confirmed to us their support for BB10, but have also released a blog post further detailing their commitment to the platform.
BlackBerry state that the launch of a BlackBerry device running on Android is designed to offer their customers a choice of operating systems and is not one which is going to replace the other. As a result and going forward, BlackBerry state “As we’ve said before, consumer and enterprise fans of our workhorse BlackBerry 10 smartphones such as Passport, Classic and others can look forward to multiple security and privacy enhancements in 2016.” So while BlackBerry does seem to be committed to introducing new smartphones to the Android operating system over the next year, they also seem equally committed to maintaining their support for the BlackBerry 10 platform. Those interested in reading the recent blog posting from BlackBerry, can do so by heading through the source link below.