RIM blocking sideloaded apps for PlayBook

By Rue Liu/April 9, 2012 11:50 am EST

RIM is planning to disable support for sideloaded apps on its BlackBerry PlayBook with a forthcoming update. The company's vice president of Developer Relations, Alec Saunders, made the announcement via Twitter, saying that the move was to avoid the rampant piracy of apps, or in his words, the "chaotic cesspool of the Android Market."

Officially supported Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook were introduced with the PlayBook OS 2.0 update back in February, but the selection is still limited. Users wanting apps not yet available through the BlackBerry App World have been able to sideload the apps to their PlayBook through software on their computer.

Although the number of apps on BlackBerry App World doesn't come close to the volume of apps on the Android Market, or now called Google Play, it apparently is more profitable, according to Saunders. He claims that developers are refusing to work with RIM until sideloading has been blocked to avoid piracy. The change is likely to arrive with the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 update.

[via MobileBurn]