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While RIM has said that its QNX-powered PlayBook tablet will be equipped with technology that allows it to run Android apps, it hasn’t disclosed whether QNX phones will have the same capability. Marisa Conway, a spokeswoman for Waterloo, Ontario- based RIM, declined to comment.

No More Upgrades

RIM rose 8 cents to $27.58 at 10:29 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock had lost 53% this year through yesterday, as Apple climbed 16 percent and Google declined 13%.

The Android app player in the new BlackBerrys is the same one that has been built for the PlayBook, and it is being tweaked to fit the different screen size and resolution of various BlackBerry models, one of the people said.

RIM plans to have the Android player installed on the QNX phones when they go on sale and not in an upgrade, to avoid criticisms that software upgrades were too slow to come, the person said.

The PlayBook was criticized on its debut in mid-April for its lack of a built-in e-mail system and a dearth of apps compared with Apple’s more popular iPad.

PlayBook Updates

RIM plans to issue a PlayBook software upgrade in September that adds a dedicated e-mail program and BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging applications, one of the people said. A PlayBook upgrade for the Android player may come later on in the year, two of the people said.

In June, RIM co-Chief Executive Officer Mike Lazaridis told analysts PlayBook e-mail and BBM will be introduced “soon” with the PlayBook Android player to come “later in the summer.”

RIM said it shipped 500,000 PlayBooks last quarter after starting sales on April 19, trailing the 9.3 million iPads Apple sold in the three months through June 25. Sprint Nextel Corp. said on Aug. 12 it had canceled plans to sell a faster 4G version of the PlayBook planned for this fall. No other U.S. phone companies have announced plans to carry the 4G PlayBook.

RIM is grappling with a smartphone sales slowdown in the U.S. even as sales outside North America still grow. The company, which reports earnings Sept. 15, has said quarterly sales may drop for the first time in nine years.

Bloomberg News