BlackBerry 10.2.1 Allows Direct APK Installs, Has No Google Play Support

One of the features that the BlackBerry 10.2.1 operating system flavor has been rumored to pack is support for the Google Play Store, but it seems that this is not the case.

In fact, following a flurry of reports on the matter, BlackBerry stepped up and shed some light on the matter, stating clearly that no such feature was planned for the platform. “We can confirm that there is no planned support for Google Play on BlackBerry,” a BlackBerry spokesperson said, n4bb reports. “BlackBerry World remains the primary source for trusted and curated BlackBerry applications and we continue to support open standards and open source tools so BlackBerry developers can continue to create apps on any of the development platforms we support.” The inclusion of support for Google’s portal on BlackBerry 10.2.1 would have allowed users to access a great deal of applications straight from their smartphones, that’s for sure. However, while Google Play Store won’t open its doors to BlackBerry users, enhanced access to Android applications will still be present on upcoming versions of the operating system.

To be more precise, BlackBerry 10.2.1 is said to sport an updated Android runtime, one that would enable people to directly install APKs on their BlackBerry phones. Courtesy of this feature, users will be able to download Android app APKs directly and easily have them up and running, all without having to transform them into BAR files. BlackBerry users will also be able to take advantage of various APK downloaders in order to grab the desired applications, which makes it even easier to enjoy a great deal of software otherwise unavailable for them. Unfortunately, Android widgets won’t work on BlackBerry 10, though this is certainly only a minor issue compared to the possibilities opened by the new Android runtime.

Those who would like to learn additional info on the direct loading of APKs on BlackBerry 10.2.1 devices should head over to this thread on the CrackBerry Forums for that.

BlackBerry 10.2.1 offers support for direct Android app APK installations
Image credits to CrackBerry

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