AT&T to offer BlackBerry's new Android phone from Friday

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Monday it would offer BlackBerry Ltd's new Android-powered smartphone in its retail stores in the United States and online from Friday. AT&T said it would be the first U.S. carrier to offer the BlackBerry Priv, powered by Google's Android mobile platform. Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry's move to launch an Android phone marks a shift away from its own BlackBerry 10 platform, which failed to regain market share ceded to Apple Inc's iPhone and a slew of Android-powered devices. BlackBerry also closed on Monday the acquisition of rival mobile software provider Good Technology Corp, which it bought for $425 million to boost its ability to help corporate clients manage smartphones running on different operating systems. BlackBerry's shares were up 1.8 percent at C$9.70 in afternoon trading in Toronto. (Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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