BlackBerry's latest update brings Amazon Appstore to its phones

All BlackBerry 10 phones will soon get features previously available on the BB Classic and Passport only, thanks to the platform's latest update. One of the most notable changes is the addition of Amazon's Appstore, giving users access to a bevy of Android apps. The update also equips the phones with BlackBerry Blend, which consolidates emails, text messages, BBM, contacts and calendar, and keeps them all synced across devices and even across operating systems (it works on Mac, Windows, Android and iOS). There's BlackBerry Assistant, as well: a virtual secretary like Siri and Cortana that responds silently if you type a question, speaks when you ask out loud and adds context to its answers if you're using a Bluetooth headset and it thinks you don't have access to the screen. These features, along with a bunch of other ones, are coming to all available BB 10 devices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East starting today, but it's slated to make its way to North America in the future.