14 DAY TRIAL // It's been less than a month since BlackBerry CEO John Chen reassured fans that his company would continue to support BlackBerry 10 OS.
However, the company seems to be determined to switch to the Android operating system completely, which will be an easy job for the most part since all BlackBerry services are cross-platform.
While the Canadian company may continue to support BlackBerry 10 OS with updates, there's little chance that new smartphones powered by this platform will be launched in the future.
The PRIV is BlackBerry's signal that it's looking for something radical that could ultimately save its smartphone business.
Android provides the Canadian company with a robust ecosystem and a huge catalog of apps, something that BlackBerry fans were never used to.
Even John Chen hinted earlier this month that his company had no plans to launch another BB10 device this year, but it would indeed launch two new Android smartphones in the next couple of months.
Today, another BlackBerry official has confirmed the Canadian company is ready to go all in on Android platform and eventually drop BB10.
BlackBerry will produce and support current BB10 phones for a limited time
Damian Tay, senior director, APAC product management at BlackBerry, tells ET that “the PRIV device is essentially our transition to Android ecosystem. As we secure Android, over a period of time, we would not have two platforms, and may have only Android as a platform [for smartphones].”
He goes on and explains that BlackBerry's decision to go for Android was an easy one to make since all the company's enterprise solutions had been cross-platform.
“The future is really Android. We went for Android essentially for its app ecosystem. In addition, all the enterprise solutions that we have been doing have been cross-platform for a long time now. So it's a natural progression towards Android,” Tay concludes.
The good news for BB10 fans is that BlackBerry will continue to sell and support some of its latest smartphones like Classic and Passport since they are primarily used by governments.
Still, that won't last long as Tay states that “there is a transition which is happening, wherein the company is looking to get certifications and clearances from these governments for the Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone.”