BlackBerry could be re-entering the smartphone market with a brand new device that takes the company in a new direction while still going retro -- a slider smartphone that runs Android and comes with a physical keyboard.

The new Android slider smartphone is a response to BlackBerry's failure to recapture consumers' imaginations and money despite a new operating system and lineup, according to a Reuters report. BlackBerry, Reuters' sources say, is shifting its focus to software and device management.

No other details about the device or how much of an Android experience it will really be have been made available by BlackBerry or Google, which designs and produces the source code for the Android operating system.

What does this mean for BlackBerry's recently failed BlackBerry 10 attempt at creating an OS to compete with iOS and Android? It's unclear whether BlackBerry will still opt to give users an opportunity at a Blackberry experience or whether there will be some form of cross-platform integration.

"We don't comment on rumors and speculation, but we remain committed to the BlackBerry 10 operating system, which provides security and productivity benefits that are unmatched," BlackBerry said in an email to Reuters.

BlackBerry did announce in March that it would make its patented security, productivity and communications softwares available to iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices. BlackBerry has already made its popular Messaging service available on other platforms. Expect to see more robust collaborations in the future, especially if BlackBerry releases an Android phone.

BlackBerry has already showed off the new slider smartphone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March, but the company hasn't released any details on the handset since. If the new Reuters report is spot on, then the new Android smartphone could be its future uniform. Most flagship smartphones nowadays feature touchscreens, and while many consumers do fondly recall physical keyboards, no smartphones with keyboards have really taken off in recent years. 

BlackBerry once dominated the smartphone market, becoming so ubiquitous that it became fondly dubbed "CrackBerry." The rise of Apple's iPhone, however, alongside the now-near-omnipresence of Google's Android have pushed BlackBerry into the shadows, from where it now commands only 1 percent of the market.

What do you think of a BlackBerry phone that would run Android and come with a physical keyboard? Let us know in the comments section below.

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