Is BlackBerry playing with the Google Android app store?

BlackBerry’s BB 10 relaunch didn’t go according to plan. There. I’ve said it. The fact that the once huge Canadian crackberry cobblers ejected their CEO kinda makes the point. Could the this latest move be the latest admittance to defeat – allowing access to Google’s Play Store.

There are some ‘leaked’ screenshots that purport to show a well used BlackBerry Z10 playing with the Android runtime and displaying the Google Play storefront.

Yes, these could well be the work of a Photoshop prankster but there is every chance that this could be legit as BB 10 does support the Jelly Bean build of Android, meaning this is at the very least, theoretically possible.

We all know that one of the main factors of whether or not smartphone’s are going to be successful or not is down to what operating system it’s running and the amount of desirable apps available.

If these pictures turn out to be true then this latest move is basically an admission that BlackBerry’s own BB 10 app store is lacking in the app area and the easiest way to rectify this is to allow support for Google’s store.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of all of this is the suggestion that, by opening up to the Play Store, BlackBerry is making its first step towards ditching its own software altogether in favour of Android.

Could the BlackBerry brand live on through hardware and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) if the company decided to join the legions of other smartphone manufacturers that license the Google OS? Personally I think that this might be its best chance at the moment and, if RIM can still maintain the security associated with BlackBerry ownership, they could even be on a winner.