(CNN) -- Once the most popular smartphone, the BlackBerry has been losing ground in the past year to iPhone and Android models. So Research in Motion is trying to carve out a new market with the PlayBook (the upcoming BlackBerry tablet) due to hit stores in the U.S. and Canada on April 19. Prices start at $499, same as for the iPad 2. However, the BlackBerry operating system is definitely not on the cutting edge of smartphone platforms. So there's been ample skepticism about how attractive a BlackBerry tablet might be to consumers, especially compared with slick offerings such as Apple's iPad and the growing array of Android tablets.
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BlackBerry's PlayBook tablet hits stores April 19 and will start at $499
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In an effort to make the PlayBook more attractive, BlackBerry is opening it to Android apps
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But few Android app developers may be willing to jump through hurdles for an unproven tablet
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The PlayBook also falls short in terms of supporting integrated BlackBerry messaging services
He points out that touting the PlayBook as running Android apps is misleading, since consumers won't be able to download apps from the @placeholder app market and run them on the PlayBook.