RIM Torches BlackBerry Smartphones, Buys WebKit Developer Torch Mobile

There may be a much better BlackBerry browser experience coming to a BlackBerry near you. BlackBerry-maker RIM has acquired Torch Mobile.

The Torch' team of developers will join RIM's global organization and will now be focused on utilizing their WebKit-based mobile browser expertise to contribute to the ongoing enhancement of the BlackBerry platform. WebKit is used for the iPhone and the Palm Pre.

Torch Mobile's team of developers has been actively involved in Open Source development and includes contributors, Committers and Reviewers of the WebKit project. As part of RIM, these developers will continue to be active participants in the WebKit development community.

Torch made the Iris Browser, an advanced, high-performance and versatile web browser application for mobile and embedded devices. Based on the WebKit rendering engine, it is specifically designed to function in resource-constrained environments. It brings the full Web experience to mobile phones, set-top boxes, mobile Internet devices, portable media players, Ultra-Mobile PCs and other embedded devices - in a fast and user-friendly manner.