One of the biggest problems that any new mobile platform suffers is the application ecosystem – users are looking for apps but developers are not interested in developing apps till the platform reaches a critical installed base. It is a typical Catch 22 situation. RIM tried to sort it out with its PlayBook by offering a hack to run Android apps on its still evolving PlayBook OS. And now it seems that Tizen, the platform supported by Intel and Samsung, is about to take the same route.

Our friends from The Handheld Blog are now reporting that one company, Open Mobile, has such a solution for Tizen. Called Application Compatibility Layer (ACL), the program supports Android apps and the company claims it will support 100 percent of Android apps and provide the same responsiveness that users expect from an Android device. While it sounds good, we are not sure how well it will work for Android developers, considering the whole app piracy debate that emerged after the PlayBook allowed Android apps. Check out the demo video below of how ACL will work when OEMs embed it in their devices.

Read