(Image Source: geek.com)

BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

If you can’t beat em, join em, right? Well RIM is taking that advice and running with it. At risk of falling out of the mobile race, rumors have circulated about the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet being able to run Android apps. Well, that time has come.

A video surfaced of a developer showcasing the Android player. The newest OS, BBX, is the wave of RIM’s future, and some tech blogs are saying- Kudos!

Gizmodo says this could keep current users happy enough to stay on board.

“The long-awaited Android app player for BlackBerry has been demonstrated by a developer, giving PlayBook owners a future reason to stay loyal.”

Any loyalty is good right now for the reeling RIM. Trailing in smartphones and tablets, and on its heels from a recent outage, the company needs a pick-me-up. Mobot says-- this is it.

“We've long since felt that opening up RIM devices to run Android apps could be the life-saving move that saves the company from falling away in the mobile game altogether. Now it would just be nice if they could get on with it.”

And Boy Genius Report says there may be some time to wait, but so far, the preview looks pretty darn encouraging.

“The video shows a folder on the main home screen called “Android Apps” that is populated with IM+ Pro, IMDb, Gmail, Amazon Kindle, Kik Messenger, Google Places and more, which suggests that a wide range of apps will work on the device. We’re impressed with what we see so far...”

But a tech blogger for The Guardian says-- sure, PlayBook with Android apps would be great-- but in reality, huge numbers of Android apps won’t be able to run on it-- leaving developers stuck with PlayBook’s QNX operating system.

“And is anyone going to start writing native apps for QNX to run on the PlayBook? Hardly.
So here's a question: what do you call a platform for which nobody bothers to write native apps? Here's a suggestion: dead.”