Tech Newz

RIM has announced the release date, pricing & availability and support of Android apps for BlackBerry PlayBook. The most anticipated tablet is releasing on April 19th, Tuesday, in the U.S and Canada. As far as the availability is concerned, PlayBook will be available in three models that includes 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of storage at a price tag of $499, $599 and $699 respectively. The tablet will go on sale in Best Buy online and mobile stores in the U.S and in Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada.
RIM has reported the Guardian that they will be releasing the BlackBerry PlayBook internationally in Q2 (which is most probably in April-June), but unfortunately no pricing or distributors have been announced.
Would-be customers in the US and Canada can place orders from today. “Previews of the BlackBerry PlayBook have generated tremendous excitement and we know that customers are eager to get their hands on one,” said RIM’s regional managing director for North America, Craig McLennan.
Now if we talk about the support of Android apps on BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, Research in Motion have announced that the tablet will run Android and native apps in addition to apps developed for the BlackBerry platform.
RIM said it will launch two optional “app players” for the PlayBook that provide app run-time environments for BlackBerry Java apps and Android 2.3 apps. Both will be available for download from BlackBerry App World and placed in a secure sandbox on the PlayBook, RIM said.
RIM said it will also release a native SDK that will allow for C/C++ app development on the BlackBerry Tablet OS.
Interestingly, customers around the world are waiting to see if PlayBook can be the most strongest competitor of iPad 2 or not. Just to give a quick reminder Apple has released the iPad 2 on March 11th in the U.S and will be releasing tomorrow internationally.