BlackBerry officially announces plans to launch the Android-powered Priv

After long rumors and leaks, BlackBerry has finally confirmed that it is working on an Android smartphone which is called Priv. As confirmed by BlackBerry CEO John Chen during BlackBerry’s second quarter financial results, BlackBerry’s first Android running smartphone will be a slider phone and it will be coming out later this year.

“Today, I am confirming our plans to launch Priv, an Android device named after BlackBerry’s heritage and core mission of protecting our customers’ privacy,” wrote Chen. “Priv combines the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform.”

BlackBerry believes that Priv, the Android running BlackBerry device will help the company to increase its revenues. The company is teasing it as the “flagship slider device.

While Chen didn’t reveal any exact release date, but he said that more details about the phone will be made available in the coming weeks.