A report from last month had claimed that BlackBerry is working on releasing its own Android running smartphone. Now, according to leak-guru @evleaks, the upcoming handset from BlackBerry will be launching exclusively on AT&T in the United States.

BlackBerry had a close relationship with AT&T before Android and iPhone started ruling the market, so the company launching its new smartphone exclusively on AT&T should not come as a surprise. However, this move is likely to hurt BlackBerry itself, especially since its smartphones have now lost favor among consumers.

Not much is known about BlackBerry’s first Android smartphone except that it will have a slider form factor and will not be a high-end handset. It is unclear if BlackBerry will be forking Android like Amazon did for its FireOS, or ship its phone with a beefed up version of Android in terms of security that will still have access to Google’s suite of apps and services. The handset, codenamed Venice, is expected to launch later this year.

Will you be buying a handset from BlackBerry if it ran Android and had access to the Google Play Store?

• Source@evleaks