The US government is one of their major customers, and a lot of business men and women like the piece of mind their phone is DoD approved for security... Even if they do nothing else to secure it.
-Retracted-
Your correct they did push BlackBerry10 in 2013, but BlackBerry 7 (No clue what happened to 8, and 9) was not an upgrade from 6 and was only available on newer phones. Which leads me to believe 7 was actually the QNX implementation.
OS: Blackberry Tablet (QNX)
From the BlackBerry Tablet page
"Another QNX-based operating system, known as BlackBerry 10, will replace the long-standing BlackBerry OS on handsets after version 7."
Android is a time-shared monolithic kernel.
QNX is a Real-Time Microkernel.
So you want to pay people to maintain 2 different kernels, for the exact same hardware, at the exact same company? When the primary customer of your phones are only interested in mobile email?
To make Android profitable you'd have to complete change their target demographic, and re-invent their company image from, "Phones for lawyers, and non-tech savvy business people" to "Phones for everyone."
That's a drastic shift.
> To make Android profitable you'd have to complete change their target demographic
While I'm not sure agree with the aforementioned commenter, I'm not sure I agree with this either. Trying to shift to "phones for everyone" is what has left BlackBerry struggling now.
BlackBerry 10 devices already are effectively skinned android devices. I have a BlackBerry Q10 in my hand, running 100% stock T-Mobile USA software (not flashed in any way), and it runs the Android version of Spotify and Simple Bank without any issues.
The cost is non-zero. It is certainly lower than writing something from scratch for BB10, but non-zero. I write enterprise mobile software, and we used to get inquiries about a BB10 version of our app and were considering distributing it that way, but haven't had any requests for BB10 in 6+ months.
If you host an APK on your website, everything "just works." No hacks -- any stock, unmodified BB10.2 device can open a Android APK instantly, just like an Android would.
The only drawback I've seen so far is the lack of Google Services. If your app doesn't use those, it runs right out of the box.
For instance, Spotify's Android APK works out of box -- no wrapping needed
http://developer.blackberry.com/android/documentation/bb_run...
I don't really understand how people can want there to be less choice in the market. We have millions of android devices. I am so glad that we still have competition, even if they're losing ground.
The OS can be fantastic but if it isn't supported by third parties it's going to be a bad experience. I loved the Windows Phone UI, but eventually I got sick of the lack of apps and went back to Android.
And no, I'm not talking about the lack of Candy Crush, I mean the lack of productivity apps, online banking, two-factor auth apps, etc. etc.
I've always struggled with lack of concentration, focus, etc and by the time I was on my third Android smartphone I realized that they're Big Glittering Distraction Machines. Personally, I find the lack of apps and games on BB10 a blessing, and the OS is unparalleled for my primary use, email and texting.
The problem's somewhat mitigated by the fact that you can now access the Amazon Android app store and run Android apps, but it feels clunky and slow. Definitely not a good substitute.
Mint, Netflix, any Android app you want can run on BB10 now. That along with everything in BlackBerry World. Plus, you get it on the awesome BB10 OS. Snap is a game changer.
The problem is not what I want, it's about ensuring the survival of the company. There are simply more people leaving BB, despite an excellent alternative OS, than coming in.
At this point sticking with only their own OS seems prideful. I'm sure the internal discussion are about "differentiation". But that swings both ways. Being different/bad is not the kind of differentiation a company wants.