Browsing on your BlackBerry smart phone could soon become a much better experience.
Customers have been complaining about BlackBerry’s browser since the launch of Apple’s iPhone, which offers better browsing experience. To improve browsing on its smart phones, the BlackBerry maker has acquired Toronto-based company called Torch Mobile.
The company, which makes the Iris mobile browser, will give BlackBerry edge in competition with other smart phones, including Apple’s iPhone.
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No details of the deal have been made public by the BlackBerry maker (RIM) based at Hamilton near Toronto. But Torch Mobile’s employees have already joined the BlackBerry software development team.
In a statement, the Toronto company said it is “excited to announce that our company has been acquired by Research In Motion (RIM), one of the most renowned mobile technology companies in the world.
“Our team of developers will join RIM’s global organisation and will now be focused on utilising our WebKit-based mobile browser expertise to contribute to the ongoing enhancement of the BlackBerry platform.”
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Torch Mobile’s expertise in mobile browser technology will provide BlackBerry smart phones with a better browsing platform from next year.
Analysts say BlackBerry needs to fix its browser quickly as it seeks to expand its base away from corporate-types to general consumers.
As the smart phone market booms, they say, Blackberry cannot just remain a device for secure e-mail. It will have to improve its functionality in browsing.
Currently, BlackBerry has a subscription base of about 29 million in about 150 countries. Fortune magazine has just rated it as the first among the world’s 100 fastest-growing companies.