RIM is good at plenty of stuff: As any sore-thumbed business-type could tell you, they’ve got the whole email thing down. They can pump out software updates for a bunch of handsets at an outright impressive pace. With the BlackBerry Storm2, they’ve shown people that they can build the touchscreen device everyone thought they were building the first time around. Even with all these talents, one thing still drags them down, tarnishing an otherwise exceptional brand: their browser.
Sure, the BlackBerry browser has gotten marginally better over time – but compared to the competition, it falls short in nearly every department. Rumors were abound a few months back that BlackBerry was planning to completely overhaul their browser, scrapping the entire thing in favor of a browser built around WebKit, the same engine used for the iPhone and Android browsers. A few weeks later, RIM snatched up Torch Mobile, developers behind the semi-popular (and WebKit based!) browser for Windows Mobile, Iris.
Things were pretty much set in stone when Iris developer’s disclosed that they’d be making good use of their “WebKit-based mobile browser expertise” while at RIM – but if that wasn’t enough for you, how about word straight out of RIM’s mouth?
MobileCrunch reader Daniel B. was lurking through job postings on LinkedIn, and found this gem from RIM. From that post:
Utilizing their expert knowledge in C++ programming, the successful candidate will be working in a fast-paced, dynamic development environment to develop a WebKit-based browser for the BlackBerry Platform.
So, there we are, folks; if there were any doubts left in your mind that BlackBerry was going WebKit, let them be cast away. Between this move and RIM’s budding love for Flash, BlackBerry fans have plenty of reason to be excited.
thank God
webkit > everything else
Agreed! This is excellent news.
why not just port chrome?
a lot of chromes base code is webkit and it has a lot of windows specific code. It would be easier to port webkit and then build out the BB specific stuff from there.
but chrome is def the best browser out right now. If safari decoupled plugin procs from the main browser thread it would probably be a bit better than chrome but apple hasn’t done that yet.
Aaron – Safari in Snow Leopard already provides plugin sandboxing (but Windows Safari users still out of luck there).
http://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/
It is great news that they are using Webkit… Even more importantly this move will keep them in the arms race with Apple.
More competition, this is exactly what the consumers need. This will keep Apple (and others) pushing their platform forward even more and we (iPhone and non-iPhone users) will all benefit from it.
Good to hear. Their current browser is frustrating and that’s the only reason I’d change from using a Blackberry
Ditto (well, I’d consider other platforms, but I won’t upgrade within the BB family until the web browser gets much better). I’m sticking with the Curve (8330, not one of the new ones) because even though they have newer hardware out it’s the same OS with the same (or more) issues. Is the Curve kind of slow at somethings, sure, but it’s software is basically as up to date as even the newest hardware (if you don’t mind running an unofficial OS, you can even go beyond what’s official on new hardware).
Webkit on BB would go a long way to keeping people from moving to other smartphone platforms.
It’ll be interesting to see if the mobile web browser market tips to WebKit and watch the effects it has on the desktop browser market. How much will that push Safari and other WebKit browser penetration on the desktop?
Only one question…when, when, WHEN?
Hearing about job postings – do not want.
A download link – WANT.
The small screen makes browsing bad enough already. Putting up with the BB browser makes browsing pretty awful.
It’s imperative that RIM figure out a way to make themselves “sticky” to users and attract them. They are losing users to competitors like the iPhone, who’s browser is one of the most impressive in the SmartPhone market.
I understand that RIM has a huge hold in the enterprise, but being in the enterprise myself, I see how our users demand that we integrate iPhones into our systems. It’s only a matter of time until Apple solidifies its integration with enterprise systems and then RIM will really miss its survival.
Actually Blackberry is losing a small amount of users to iPhone, the majority of iPhone users never had a smartphone thus they think it’s the best thing ever (coming from a cell phone).
I just don’t see Apple putting in the effort to go after Enterprise, they will not share their roadmap, not put in the functionality enterprise desires to manage iPhone, won’t break the connection to iTunes and their EcoSystem (how they make $$) so while yes they are enterprise capable they won’t do much more as for most small / med business thats good enough.
I am a very happy BlackBerry customer (Verizon/Tour) (I also carry an iPhone. I downloaded Opera on BB and love it. I use it over the BB browser and even iPhone web often. (Depends on what site I’m heading to.) iPhone is not really all that…
Well its a great news .. if they could create a better browser ..
Cheers,
Daina
I wonder, why RIM didn’t choose Opera instead. Why develop a browser from scratch when Opera Mini is already available on Blackberry smartphones? No matter how much effort they will spend, RIM won’t develop a browser better than mobile Safari; not to say it won’t be so suited for their keyboard small-screen devices. Contrary to that, Opera Mini is better suited for non-touchscreen devices, and it offers some unique advantages like traffic saving/mobile view adaptation.
Thus, I think by partnering with Opera RIM would 1) save lots of money 2) have a default browser with unique set of advantages/disadvantages and thus not directly comparable with mobile Safari.
Opensourced WebKit vs Closesourced Opera? Could have something to do with it. ;)
Opera is also using cached version of the internet – thus the speed gain.
Bolt is even nicer then Opera.
I disagree. Bolt is slower, and the UI is horrid.
Well its a great news
Pump out software updates? How come my 8800 didn’t get a single one for 2 years? Dropped I for the iPhone and I’ve had a steady stream of improvements.
RIM suffered from the RAZR disease: hve a product that brings on millions and so there’s no investment in making it better.
Is it just me or would it just make sense for Blackberry to adopt Android OS? Think about it…they could still produce the same hardware that their fans know and love and they could build a Blackberry style UI on top of the Android stack.
This would let them still be BB but would also give them the advanced browsing that they want and also give their users access to the ando app market.
Guess the only losers here would be the developers who build the core BB os.
Crazy thought or ?
You know, there’s a reason why Android made sure to support trackballs and hardware keyboards… ;)
I could definitely see Blackberry supporting Android down the road if their market share starts to drop.
As a strong proponent of the ideal ‘write once, run anywhere’ model, I feel this webkit-based browser is going to solve many problems associated with web-based mobile apps. In most cases earlier, it was just not worthwhile spending valuable resources for another single platform. As an example, I have Graphical Reports developed using HTML5 and Canvas3D, which work on iPhone and Android..but still hung up on Blackberry because of an unsupportive out of the box browser. We can make them work on BB by installing the BOLT browser which is webkit-based http://boltbrowser.com , but that is not a practical solution
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no WebKit for mobile:
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2009/10/there_is_no_web.html
Your best bet is to write according to STANDARDS, not according to some specific browser engine.
BTW, Bolt sucks. Slow and ugly.
I’ve been saying for some time, that despite RIM being a bit of a dog to develop for (compared to Android or iPhone) that the Blackberry is the dark horse in the next gen mobile race.
With exceptional usability in other departments (email, phone, messaging and interoperability between apps and multi-tasking) not to mention awesome battery life compared to any other phone with its capabilities, the Blackberry is set to be a serious contender over the coming months and medium term.
Qualitative evidence (certainly in London) shows that teenagers are far from put off by Blackberry as the bastion of corporate enterprise and are snapping up Blackberry handsets. A quick scan on a bus or tube shows many fashionistas tapping away, having shunned the rubbish iPhone battery and preferring a solid keyboard experience.
…Blackberry is far from buried in the enterprise graveyard…mark my words :-)