RIM has reportedly announced new details on the restrictions and limitations of its Android App Player for PlayBook, which will allow some Android apps to run on the BlackBerry tablet. And PlayBook owners may be disappointed with the revelations. Here's why. Last spring, just after Research In Motion (RIM) announced that its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet would run some Android applications via an “Android App Player,” I posted my thoughts on what the news would mean to PlayBook owners. In that post, I cautioned that until RIM made clear what kinds of apps the PlayBook would support, BlackBerry tablet owners shouldn’t get too excited about the potential of the Android App Player. Today, we’ve learned a few more purported details about the Android App Player for PlayBook restrictions and limitations, and the news could prove to be a letdown for some PlayBook users. U.K.-based tech news site Thinq.co.uk says RIM representatives announced the new Android App Player information at the Eastern European Mobile Monday Developer Summit’s “Droidcon” event in Romania today. And the Android apps on PlayBook restrictions are as follows: No “live wallpaper” No SIP or SIP VoIP support No applications created using the Android Native Development Kit (NDK) No apps that consist only of home screen “widgets” No apps that “rely” on Google Maps No in-app billing services No support for Android text-to-speech engine No “cloud-to-device” messaging No apps that demand multiple “activities” tied to the Android launcher The lack of support for Android live wallpaper really doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. And honestly, I’m not 100 percent sure what the last item on the list even means. But the other restrictions could certainly prove to be significant. No SIP/SIP VoIP means no SIP-based Web-calling applications. No support for Android NDK apps will surely cross off a large number of Android apps from the PlayBook-app-compatibility list. And no widget-only apps means I won’t be able to use any of my battery-gauge- or weather-widgets I use on my Motorola Atrix via Android App Player for PlayBook, along with many other widget apps, etc. No support for apps that use Google Maps is also unfortunate, as that’s my favorite online mapping app. Bottom line: It looks like a significant number of existing Android apps won’t be compatible with the BlackBerry PlayBook and others will be “crippled” within the App Player. Then there’s also the fact that nobody outside RIM has any clue when the Android App Player for PlayBook will actually become available—RIM might not even know. The BlackBerry-maker initially promised the App Player last summer, but that never happened. The latest estimates are that it should be available before the end of November or so, though I’m not waiting with bated breath, to put my opinions on the whole situation mildly. AS Via Thinq.co.uk Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP What goes well with Viña Concha y Toro wines? Meat, fish, poultry, and SAP Viña Concha y Toro, a wine producer that distributes to more than 140 countries worldwide, paired its operation with the SAP Business Technology Platform to enhance its operation and product. By Tom Caldecott, SAP Contributor Dec 04, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Azul How to maximize ROI by choosing the right Java partner for your organization Choosing the right Java provider is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your organization’s success. By asking the right questions and considering the total cost of ownership, you can ensure that you choose the best Java p By Scott Sellers Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Application Management brandpost Sponsored by DataStax Ask yourself: How can genAI put your content to work? Generative AI applications can readily be built against the documents, emails, meeting transcripts, and other content that knowledge workers produce as a matter of course. By Bryan Kirschner Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence feature The CIO’s new role: Orchestrator-in-chief CIOs have unique insight into everything that happens in a company. Some are using that insight to take on a more strategic role. By Minda Zetlin Dec 04, 2023 12 mins CIO C-Suite Business IT Alignment Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe