RIM Accidentally Posts, Then Removes Test Version of Android App Engine for PlayBook

Research In Motion confirmed that it briefly posted an outdated test version of the program that will allow some Android apps to run on the PlayBook tablet.

“An older version of the Android App Player beta software for the BlackBerry PlayBook was inadvertently posted and has since been removed,” a spokeswoman told AllThingsD on Friday. “We recommend that users refrain from downloading and installing this software since it is outdated and non-functional in many respects.”

The company said that it plans to release the official beta version of the Android App Player later this summer, as well as a native email program for the tablet.

RIM announced back in March its plans to release the Android App Player and has shown a demo of the software in action. The Android player should run apps designed for Android 2.3 and earlier, RIM said at the time; the company plans a separate app engine to allow BlackBerry Java apps to run on the tablet.

With the two app players, RIM is hoping to vastly expand the number of apps for the PlayBook beyond the comparatively small number of programs natively written for the tablet.

The Android App Player was demonstrated at RIM’s BlackBerry World conference in May.

The inadvertent release of the Android player was reported earlier by N4BB, among other sites.