It’s no secret that Research in Motion has been struggling to compete in the smartphone and tablet industry. While the company’s BlackBerry smartphones are still incredibly popular among business people and the younger crowd that can’t get enough of BBM, it’s facing some stiff competition from the likes of Apple and Google. However, it seems RIM might have a trick up its sleeve to give itself a boost: Upcoming phones could be capable of running Android applications.

Bloomberg this week reports that RIM could enable 2012′s BlackBerry’s to run Android applications. Citing three people familiar with the plan, Bloomberg said that, starting in 2012, RIM will introduce QNX-based Android compatible BlackBerrys. The QNX-based PlayBook is already slated to get support for Android apps later this year but RIM has not said if this feature will also be present in QNX-based phones.

Considering the BlackBerry’s relatively small library of applications (the Android Market has six times as many, according to Bloomberg), being able to run Android apps would be a huge boon for the company’s brand. RIM declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report.

SOURCE via Bloomberg