During an interview at CES 2016, BlackBerry CEO John Chen said his firm’s next two smartphones will feature Android instead of BB10, BlackBerry’s homegrown mobile operating system. Both devices are slated for release this year. The company has previously released a smartphone, the Priv, which featured Android and a physical keyboard.
In general, analysts seemed to agree that the decision would be good for BlackBerry and the mobile development industry. “BlackBerry no longer has the user base or financial wherewithal to build and support an app ecosystem of its own, so embracing Android offers the best avenue to accomplish that,” said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.