The Future of the BlackBerry Browser Looks Bright

On Monday RIM made a huge splash in the smartphone world with the acquisition of Torch Mobile.  This means the award winning Iris browser will be coming to the BlackBerry in the future.  Iris uses a WebKit based rendering engine to deliver the highest quality mobile browsing experience.  The Iris was previously only seen on the Windows Mobile platform but they also announced they will no longer continue Windows Mobile development.

So why is all this big news, it’s just another browser right?  Well not really, the Iris may be one among many browsers but it certainly stands alone when it comes to features and performance.  As you take a look at some of the features below you’ll see that the Iris browser has everything you want in a mobile browser.

• WebKit rendering engine
• SquirrelFish Extreme JavaScript engine
• Customizable interface
• Touch screen control
• Advanced HTML and CSS support
• Languages
• Zoom and tap Function
• Multiple windows and tabs
• Input methods
• Software mouse cursor
• Special effects

It was only a matter of time before RIM caught on to the WebKit standard that many of the other smartphones already have deployed.  WebKit is considered the unofficial standard when it comes to mobile browsers and RIM knew they had to make this move.

If you remember RIM recently stated they plan on challenging Apple’s Safari browser in the near future and now we know what was up their sleeve.  It certainly is big news for BlackBerry fans.  We have had to suffer with the BlackBerry browser for some time now and although it has improved it still has a ways to go.  Don’t expect results right away but in a year’s time we could see the best mobile browser ever and it will belong to the BlackBerry.