BlackBerry today announced that it plans to update the Android runtime within its BlackBerry 10 platform to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Currently, the runtime is at Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. BlackBerry 10 can run repackaged Android applications, and in fact, about 40% of the 70,000 apps available in BlackBerry App world are ported Android apps.
The runtime within BB10 is what makes them work. By updating the runtime to a more modern version of Android, it will help developers looking to port their Android 4+ apps to the BB10 platform. BlackBerry also announced a preview version of the BlackBerry 10.1 native SDK for the Q10.
The current SDK supports the Z10. This additional SDK will allow developers to create apps customized for the Q10 hardware, which includes a physical keyboard. It can be downloaded from BlackBerry’s developer portal.
The Z10 and Q10 are expected to reach the U.S. in March and April, respectively.
