RIM has moved to kick-start developer activity around its new PlayBook tablet, announcing that it is adding support for Android apps on the platform. RIM said it will launch two optional ‘app players’ that provide an application run-time environment for both BlackBerry Java apps and Android (2.3) apps. These new app players will allow users to download Java and Android apps from BlackBerry App World and run them on the PlayBook alongside native apps.

PlayBook will initially support 25,000 Java apps and 200,000 Android apps. According to RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, the move will “provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform.” It will also allow the firm to benefit from the vast Android developer community.

The long-awaited new tablet is based on RIM’s own QNX platform and is due to debut in the USA and Canada next month (19 April).

In addition, RIM said it will “shortly release” the native SDK for the PlayBook enabling C/C++ application development on the OS. For game-specific developers, RIM also announced that it has gained support from two leading game development tooling companies, allowing developers to use the cross-platform game engines from Ideaworks Labs and Unity Technologies to bring their games to the PlayBook.

RIM also revealed the latest milestones for BlackBerry App World. It notes that 100,000 new developers joined the BlackBerry community in its last fiscal year (ending 26 February), and that the store is now available in over 100 markets. It is currently registering 3 million app downloads a day. The firm noted that “a big driver of this growth is carrier integrated billing and direct billing.”