RIM has confirmed that the BlackBerry PlayBook would support Java apps but was very elusive on Android support. It wouldn’t flatly deny supporting apps for Google’s OS but instead said company officials have not made any statements yet reguarding Android.
Earlier rumors have pointed to RIM using a custom implementation of Java that would let it run at least some Android apps on the PlayBook without having to use an emulator.
Although it would ideally use Google’s Dalvik engine, the company is believed to be consciously avoiding it to avoid the patent issues that have prompted Oracle’s lawsuit against Google over allegedly copying Java code for Android’s core.
The PlayBook theoretically has one of the most flexible app platforms and can use Java along with Adobe AIR, fully native apps and web code.
