In the wake of Research in Motion"s disastrous financial announcement on Thursday, and its delay of Blackberry 10 to the first quarter of 2013, there"s a new semi-offer from a Google executive that could see a Blackberry-style smartphone running on Android.
ABCNews.com reports that Google’s Director of Android User Experience, Matias Duarte, stated this week, "If RIM wanted to work on Android devices, I would really welcome that. They clearly make great physical keyboards."
RIM may not have much of a choice if it want to stay alive as a stand alone company. RIM announced this week it would lay off 5,000 of its workers; that represents about 30 percent of its total workforce.
One of the things that made Blackberry smartphones so popular early on was their QWERTY-style physical keyboards. Now, most smartphones have opted to use the touch screen approach when it comes to keyboards. However, Duarte feels physical keyboards on phones are not over yet.
He states, "I am still a huge fan of hardware keyboards. Many of the products I have worked on in the past have had them. I think there is a place for them — it’s all about choice and different types of devices."
We should point out that Microsoft wants in on the RIM action too.
Source: ABCNews.com