Rumors have been circulating that BlackBerry is working on a smartphone that will run on the Android operating system instead of the company's own platform.
The latest speculations suggest that BlackBerry's first Android operated smartphone will be called Prague and will be launched this August.
BlackBerry has been struggling in the smartphone market in the past few years. The Canadian company has lost a major chunk of its market share to iOS and Android running devices. However, the company continued launching handsets running on its own operating system.
The company is expected to make the shift and launch a handset running on a different platform.
BlackBerry is also rumored to launch a smartphone, dubbed Venice, in November this year that will come running on Android. However, an N4BB report suggests that BlackBerry device lovers will not have to wait as long as November to grab a BlackBerry device running on Android.
BlackBerry could be planning to launch Prague as early as August. However, the speculated BlackBerry device is not expected to feature top-end specs but is estimated to enter the smartphone market as a low-end device.
Android is still the most popular operating system in low-end devices. The Google mobile OS is also the growth driver in emerging markets.
A 2014 International Data Corporation (IDC) report shows that smartphone shipments in emerging markets are continuously growing. Additionally, emerging markets will represent 79.5 percent of worldwide smartphone shipments, or 1.4 million in 2018. A majority of these devices will be running on Android.
Low-end devices are a huge requirement in emerging markets but the profit margins in this sector are very low. BlackBerry may take advantage of its partnership with Foxconn for developing Prague, which may enable the company to maximize profits with an entry-level handset.
BlackBerry has taken several steps to boost the sales of its smartphones. However, the company has not been successful. An Android smartphone such as Prague may help the company win back some of its market share.
While BlackBerry is trying its luck with an Android handset, the company has not forgotten about its own operating system. BlackBerry has recently started to roll out the BlackBerry 10.3.2 software update to users in the U.S.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
