Bloomberg: RIM to Put Android Apps on PlayBook
Who needs BlackBerry's App World when you have the Android Marketplace?
Last month we heard rumors that Research In Motion could be working towards making its devices Android app-compatible because of a desire to accommodate the existing Java environment on its upcoming QNX devices. Back then, the company was said to be considering getting a Java VM running on the PlayBook, and though the specific VM had yet to be decided, sources said RIM was looking at Dalvik -- the same VM the Android OS uses. However, more recent rumors suggest that while RIM is trying to get Android apps onto the PlayBook, it won’t be via Dalvik.
Bloomberg cites no less than three people familiar with the matter in reporting that RIM is working on a software that would allow PlayBook users access to Android’s 130,000 applications. The sources say that following an initial search outside RIM, the software is now being developed in-house and is expected to be ready in the second half of this year. Dalvik was an option at one point, but an ongoing patent dispute between Oracle and Google put the brakes on that.
Having the perks of BlackBerry (such as BBM and extremely stable corporate email) on a device capable of running all the available Android OS apps could be extremely beneficial for RIM, which has struggled to enter the more casual or personal smartphone market. When rumors of such a thing first arose, you guys expressed a great interest and it was hailed as ‘the best of both worlds’ by several commenters. Would you ditch your current tablet for a BlackBerry-enabled one with Android apps? Let us know!

I certainly hope, though, that apps running in a VM are as good as running them on a native Android device.
Either way, it's still good news.
Ummm... no offence but you do realize that RIM is a Canadian company right?
Ummm... no offence but you do realize that Canada in in North America, his statement is accurate.
Pretty sure that any time someone says or makes reference to "made-in-America quality" they mean the United States. Otherwise they would say "made-in-North-America quality"
That said, I wish they would make a 10" model or better yet a 14" model.
Yeah, but the stuff coming from China is a whole lot cooler. It's taken RIM this long to come out with a good product and they still don't have a phone that even begins to compare to the Chinese iPhone and Android phones currently available in the USA.
I beg to differ, but I'm more the business/work/play user rather than a fan boy or trendy dude.