OTTAWA: Now it appears BlackBerry to be embracing Android as an operating system for its smartphones. The latest evidence of this shift was uncovered by reports which found that BlackBerry has registered Android-related domain names, including “AndroidSecured.com” and “AndroidSecured.net”.
This follows rumors that BlackBerry is making an Android-based BlackBerry smartphone, as FierceMobileIT has reported.
CEO John Chen has declined to confirm these rumors, although he did say that his firm would only build an Android phone if it could be secured, according to reports.
In a statement emailed to the newswire, BlackBerry said: “BlackBerry frequently registers domain names to support the breadth of our cross-platform portfolio. Android is an important part of our cross-platform enterprise software strategy.”
Also, BlackBerry announced Monday the appointment of Carl Wiese as president of global sales, replacing John Sims who left BlackBerry. Wiese, who joins the firm from Cisco, will be responsible for driving BlackBerry’s market strategy and global sales efforts.