Following months of rumors, PlayBook manufacturer research in Motion has confirmed in a press release that it will add support for Android and Java apps to its development tools for the RIM PlayBook tablet. In addition, the new SDK for the tablet will also support development of fully native applications with C/C++ on top of already announced support for applications developed with HTML5, Flash/Flex and Adobe AIR.
With the confirmation/addition of C/C++ and Android/Java development support, RIM is seeking to give developers the most flexibility in what languages to use for developing and deploying applications.
Apps developed with Java/Android and C/C will benefit from a new “player” which will be available from BlackBerry App World later this summer that will allow PlayBook tablets to run apps developed in the aforementioned platforms without compromising performance. As a companion to C/C++ development, RIM will also release an open beta of its Native Development Kit later this year, with a showcase at BlackBerry World in May.
