RIM Acquires Torch Mobile

RIM has purchased Toronto based software company Torch Mobile. The acquisition is expected to boost the performance of the Blackberry’s browser, which has often been criticized for its slow speeds and rendering of web pages. Torch Mobile’s primary product is the Iris Browser which uses the WebKit rendering engine similar to the iPhones Safari and Palm’s web OS browsers. The Iris Browser is designed to function with limited resources while still delivering the full web experience on mobile phones.

While Blackberry users are no doubt pleased to hear the browser will be improved it will still be some time before RIM’s new browser is available. Although Torch Mobile has ceased all of their previous development initiatives it will take them some time to begin their new projects at RIM. There are also rumors that RIM may be developing a full flash browser with Silverlight support but a upgrade in the Blackberry’s hardware and network speeds would need to happen before a full flash browser is feasible.

Regardless of how long it takes help is on the way for the Blackberry’s browser, analysts expect the new browsers could be showing up in late 2010.

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