Rumors of an Android smartphone by BlackBerry continues to make the rounds, this time with more details. The BlackBerry Prague could be the first Android device by BlackBerry, which is said to be a low-end, “Z3” like aimed for the emerging markets.
As you probably have already heard, Reuters published an exclusive last week which pretty much said that BlackBerry was considering in releasing an Android device. N4BB has a little bit more information regarding the matter in which they claim the BlackBerry Android device is called (or given the code-name) “Prague”
Further details such as specs and any supporting visuals have not yet touched the surface, other than a scheduled release in August – a few months before the upcoming BlackBerry Slider.
An Android device for the emerging markets could make all the sense in the world for BlackBerry for a number of reasons. For starters, BlackBerry has now given Foxconn the responsibility for manufacturing the devices. Using Android won’t be costing BlackBerry anything and they could be looking at a “low risk high reward” type of situation. IDC forecasted that the smartphone emerging market will increase by 32.4% and could see a total 73.5% representation of smartphone shipments, a rough estimate of 920 million devices.
All in all, the good news is, BlackBerry is still committed to hardware and BlackBerry 10. 10.3.3 was announced by INSIDE BlackBerry yesterday with more news to come about the update in the coming weeks.
Source: N4BB