Research In Motion has acquired Torch Mobile, a company focused on mobile browsers. The acquisition of the Toronto-based company will help RIM focus on enhancements for its popular BlackBerry line of smartphones.

The Waterloo, Canada-based RIM is tapping into Torch Mobile's experience in mobile Web browsing to strengthen its own offering to BlackBerry owners.
“Torch Mobile employees have joined RIM's software development team effective immediately and will contribute their significant expertise in WebKit-based mobile-browser technology to the ongoing development and enhancement of the BlackBerry platform,” spokesperson Marisa Conway said in an e-mail. “As part of the global RIM organization, the development team from Torch Mobile will continue its active participation in the WebKit development community.” Filling a Gap
Torch Mobile, which has an office in Beijing, focuses on WebKit, an open-source Web browser engine. The company's team of developers -- which developed the free mobile Web browser for Windows, QTopia and WindowsCE called Iris -- has been actively involved in open-source development.
The acquisition of Torch Mobile fills a RIM gap that desperately needs filling. RIM's BlackBerry browsers have improved over the years, but RIM still has some catching up to do compared to rivals Apple, with its iPhone, and Palm, with its webOS, according to Ken Dulaney, a Gartner analyst.
“RIM's browser has been poor and it would seem that acquiring them is the most expedient way to fix the problem,” Dulaney said. “That said, RIM needs bigger screens and more touch interfaces to improve the experience further. The WebKit aspect is similar to Palm's approach, and it means JavaScript is becoming a more reasonable means for developing applications and Google is behind this approach, too.”
RIM's acquisition of Torch Mobile comes two months after the mobile-phone maker acquired Dash Navigation.
Dash developed navigation hardware, but was ahead of its time and didn't sell enough hardware. In the past, RIM has relied on other companies such as Google for GPS applications. Now RIM's move will let it use Dash navigation software in BlackBerrys.
While the Torch Mobile acquisition is a step in the right direction for RIM, the move will leave users of the Windows Mobile version of the Iris browser hanging.
Torch Mobile will no longer develop for Windows Mobile or Windows CE, a spokesperson told Brighthand.com.
(Source: Newsfactor.com)