Some people may think that RIM is getting desperate in trying to improve the sales of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet because in recent months, it had been dropping its prices to a level below US $200. More recently, RIM announced through its BlackBerry Developer Blog that it will give away PlayBooks to developers who want to port their Android apps to run on the PlayBook.
These moves by RIM could be seen as desperate measures On the other hand, you could say that RIM is investing to rise again. As discussed previously in DailySocial, RIM continues to embrace a variety of developer communities, including Android developers, to boost the number of applications that can be run on different devices made by RIM.
Back at CES 2012, RIM announced that PlayBook 2.0 operating system will be equipped with a runtime which enables it to run Android applications. Furthermore, in late January, RIM released three tools to make it easier for Android developers to port their apps to be compatible with the PlayBook.
Not only has RIM provided Android runtime on the PlayBook to allow Android apps to be run on it but it also has provided software that allows developers to easily port Android apps to the PlayBook. Additionally, the free PlayBook offer is good for developers who submitted their ported Android apps before February 13th 2012. This is RIM’s strategy to revive consumer interest in their tablet by approaching developers to create PlayBook apps.
If the strategy is successful, BlackBerry App World for PlayBook could equal the Android Market in terms of variety, which means the PlayBook’s disadvantage of lacking applications will be eliminated. Of course this will make the PlayBook appear more “interesting” to customers even though at the end of the day, customers will decide which tablet to buy.