It had hoped that its latest lineup would win back market share lost to Apple’s iPhone and Android-powered devices carried by dominant brands.
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The last thing we heard about the new BlackBerry Slider, which is also known as the BlackBerry Venice, is that the device is headed to USA mobile carrier AT&T and now the handset has popped up in India’s import database. The device is believed to have a 5.4-inch display and – like the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge – will be curved on the right and left sides.
The BlackBerry Slider will most likely feature a sliding keyboard hidden underneath the display, which while not innovative, is certainly useful and may position the phone as a good flagship for any type of user, not just a business or power user as usual.
At Mobile World Congress in March, the company unveiled a new upcoming smartphone, with a built in keyboard which was clearly operating under the BB 10 OS. Similarly to Samsung’s Knox initiative, BlackBerry will need to reassure potential customers, particularly business users, that if it plans on selling Android-based smartphones, they can still deliver a similar level of security and encryption to what’s now offered up by BlackBerry OS.
Google has not commented on the BlackBerry-Android rumors. In an effort to appeal to both groups, BlackBerry added support to run Android applications with the release of BB10.2.1. What are your thoughts on a BlackBerry Android smartphone? The result is that there are very few choices on the incredibly competitive Android market for phones with physical keyboards, especially when it comes to phones with up-to-date technology.
BlackBerry stated it “remains committed to the Blackberry 10 operating system”, in response to the original rumours. It seems like a better strategy for BlackBerry to build Android phones and write software for other platforms other than its own.
Blass has a fairly strong track record with leaking images of unreleased phones, which lends validity to the notion of BlackBerry phones running Android.
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However, not everyone is optimistic about the prospect of an Android-powered BlackBerry.
