In late January, BGR reported the too-good-to-be-true rumor that Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet may be able to run Android apps.  According to BGR, RIM could enable support for Android apps on the PlayBook by using the open source Dalvik virtual machine.

Today, Bloomberg confirmed this rumor, citing three individuals familiar with the effort.  Bloomberg reports that RIM is indeed working on software that will enable support for Android apps on the PlayBook, giving users access to the over 130,000 apps available for the Android OS.

Contrary to BGR’s report, Bloomberg claims that RIM considered using the Dalvik virtual machine, but shied away from the software due to the ongoing patent dispute between Oracle and Google.  Instead, RIM decided to develop its Android-enabling software internally, and it could be ready to launch by the second half of this year.

Support for Android apps would be a boon for the PlayBook that may help RIM to court customers currently considering an Android 3.0 tablet.  It will also be interesting to see how the PlayBook’s impressive multitasking capabilities work with Android apps.

Of course, RIM had no official comment on the matter.  However, with the PlayBook expected to launch in the first quarter of this year we’d expect to hear more details soon.

Check out a video of the PlayBook in action at CES 2011, above.

Source:  Bloomberg via BGR