RIM adds Android app support to BlackBerry PlayBook via 'optional app player'

You read that right -- RIM just announced that its forthcoming BlackBerry PlayBook will support both BlackBerry Java and Android apps. That includes native C/C++ development support, HTML5, Flash and AIR support, not to mention game engines from Ideaworks Labs (AirPlay) and Unity Technologies (Unity 3). That means that you'll have access to to over 200,000 Android apps should you choose to procure one on April 19th, but you'll need to dive into one of two optional "app players" in order to do so. It's also worth noting that RIM's presser only focuses on Android "2.3 apps," and while we're assuming Honeycomb apps will eventually be supported, there's no mention of Android 3.0 just yet. Furthermore, devs can look forward to an imminent release of the native PlayBook SDK, which will specifically enable C/C++ application development on the BlackBerry Tablet OS. We're told that folks who are already building for the BlackBerry or Android platform can "quickly and easily" port their apps to run on the BlackBerry Tablet OS, with the two app players available to download from the BlackBerry App World at launch. So, now that you can look forward to digging into the near-limitless Android Market, are you actually considering the PlayBook?