Research In Motion’s BlackBerry line of handsets has definitely taken a blow from the tidal wave of more gadgety phones, whether that’s from the open source Android or the entertainment hub that is the iPhone. But given the acquisition of Torch Mobile, BlackBerry is in line to make some sort of comeback. The former Torch Mobile team will now be working to bring high-quality WebKit-based browsers to the BlackBerry. Keep in mind that WebKit is the same tech powering the iPhone’s Safari Mobile browser, which is as good as any a mobile browser out there.
A WebKit Browser coupled with Flash and Silverlight support, which we already know the BlackBerry will be getting in the near future, makes the BlackBerry a pretty sexy entertainment device. One of the big problems I had initially envisioning Flash on the BlackBerry was that the handset’s browser has typically felt a tad low tech. But with WebKit under the hood, streaming videos from Hulu or Netflix on the BlackBerry might become a very simple and pleasant thing to do.
Of course, a more powerful browser brings with it more data usage. The iPhone has turned AT&T into a crippled wreck simply because it’s so easy to tap away and browse the web. But I think the current regime over at Verizon has it covered. Verizon has the exclusive rights to many a BlackBerry, including the upcoming Storm 2 and Curve 2. Couple that with the fact that Verizon seems like it’ll be the first carrier to roll out LTE, and you get what could be a pretty awesome end experience for users. Whether or not that’ll result in lots of BlackBerry users streaming episodes of Mythbusters and House is yet to be seen, but it’s certainly not a far-fetched possibility.
