RIM plans end to app side-loading on PlayBook tablets

RIM BlackBerry PlayBook

RIM has revealed that it intends to disable the ability to side-load apps to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with a future software update. Up to now, users have been able to install Android apps on their PlayBook tablets through software on their Mac or PC even if those particular Android apps were not available in the BlackBerry App World.

The announcement was made on Twitter by RIM's vice president of Developer Relations, Alec Saunders, who claimed that side-loading led to rampant piracy and that RIM was not interested in duplicating the "chaotic cesspool of the Android Market" on the PlayBook. Further, Saunders said that there are developers that RIM wants to work with to get more apps into the BlackBerry App World, but they won't provide apps for the platform until the side-loading feature is removed.

Saunders did not say when the software update that would break side-loading would arrive, but it is expected to happen with the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 update. [via The Verge]