A recent report by Reuters has claimed that Blackberry Ltd. might be planning to use Google's Android operating system on its upcoming devices.
The Canadian company used to be one of the major smartphone manufacturers before 2012, according to a report, but is now lagging behind, as both tech giants Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics are currently dominating the smartphone landscape.
If the new rumor turns out to be true, this will be the first time ever for Blackberry to use another operating system on its devices beside its own Blackberry OS.
The report by Reuters also claims the move by Blackberry is part of the Canadian firm's plan to focus on the software aspect including its device management system.
Blackberry just launched the Blackberry Passport and Blackberry Classic devices last year. A new model, dubbed the Blackberry Oslo, is expected to come out sometime within this year. The Blackberry Oslo handset is still expected to run on the company's latest operating system, according to rumors.
The report continues to suggest that Blackberry is probably planning to launch a new slider smartphone that will run on the Android operating system, similar to the Blackberry Torch 9800, which offers users both touch screen capability and a keyboard.
Another recent report also claims Blackberry might be planning to partner with South Korean giant Samsung Electronics on a new Android-based device. Both companies had already collaborated on the Blackberry Messenger in the past.
Eldar Murtazin, an analyst from Russia, also added the speculation that Blackberry and Samsung plan to work on a new device that will integrate both the Android operating system and Blackberry services.
It's still very early to know whether all these speculations are true. But if the rumored plan will materialize, it will definitely be a big game changer for the Canadian company.
