The New BlackBerry Browser…Yawn.
This story would have been cool had I written this in 2008.
But unfortunately, the people who run Research in Motion do one thing well (that is make an epic full-keyboard messaging phone) and really are ignorant to the rest of the world. And as all other phone manufacturers started to encroach into RIM’s wheelhouse – things like security and Enterprise support, also a solid e-mail experience – they failed to expand and adapt to the changing environment. And as a result, BlackBerry is on the verge of irrelevance to basically all consumers except those who a) are already committed to the platform, or b) require heavy mobile messaging devices.
But the folks up in Waterloo are trying to change that. They attempted to make a multi-media intensive device (the Storm series) and failed rather spectacularly and their newest entry into the Bold line is a pretty impressive device. The knock against these devices, as phones move more and more in the direction of mobile PC’s, is that the native BlackBerry browser is basically garbage. And it is. There’s really no excuse for how bad the BlackBerry Internet experience is. I know from painful, painful experience.
That leads to the big reveal today at the Mobile Web Congress. In hopes of improving their own browser, RIM bought Torch Mobile in August 2009, a company that developed a browser built on the WebKit devlopment technology. Which only means, their new browser will be made with the same technology that all the better mobile browsers (iPhone, Android, webOS) are made with. The the below videos is the first anybody as ever seen of it.
While the verdict is still out, I can do nothing but shrug my shoulders at this latest development. BlackBerry has kind of lost me. I own one now and really don’t plan on re-upping with a new device with or without this new addition. I didn’t have a bad experience, I’ve just moved on. I’ve been seduced by the sweet Siren calls of Android. But maybe this changed minds for some people.
All you need is love.